American not-for-profit organization MITRE Corporation has announced the launch of a tech foundation focused on strengthening critical infrastructure through partnerships with the private sector.
Called Engenuity, the foundation is a distinct, non-profit company that has its own board of directors and separate private funding.
Through Engenuity, MITRE hopes to find new ways to cooperate with industry, academia, and other organizations, in addition to its work with the federal government. Collaborative research and development efforts will be aimed at cyber defense that leverages MITRE’s ATT&CK knowledge base.
The foundation will also drive development and investment in areas such as encryption and standards to improve the resilience and integrity of 5G networks.
Through data analytics, Engenuity will attempt to enhance healthcare effectiveness, transportation safety and security, and other critical infrastructure areas by providing solutions that can be applied anywhere around the world.
The first initiative rooted in the newly announced foundation is The Center for Threat-Informed Defense, which brings together major organizations in an effort to strengthen cyber defense.
The project has 13 founding members, namely American Express, AttackIQ, Bank of America, Booz Allen Hamilton, Citi, Cyber Threat Alliance, Fujitsu, HCA Healthcare, JP Morgan Chase, Microsoft, Red Canary, Siemens, and US Bank.
The Center for Threat-Informed Defense, a privately funded research and development organization, conducts applied research and advanced development in an attempt to advance cyber defense at scale, worldwide.
The Center will focus on accelerating development of ATT&CK; establishing a most wanted list of adversary techniques; developing, sharing, and automating adversary emulation playbooks; and maturing MITRE’s ATT&CK-based security operations center assessment methodology and transitioning it to organizations that can deliver it at scale.
Engenuity, MITRE announced, will have national security expert and former congressman Mike Rogers as chairman of its board of directors. Rogers currently serves as vice chairman of MITRE’s board of trustees.
Bill Coleman, operating executive at Carlyle Group, and Julie Bowen, MITRE’s senior vice president for strategic engagements, general counsel, and corporate secretary, will be part of Engenuity’s board of directors too.
“Through MITRE Engenuity, we’re now applying our interdisciplinary expertise and resources to work with industry on complex, public interest challenges so that we can have greater impact on shaping the future of our nation’s critical infrastructure,” Jason Providakes, MITRE president and CEO, commented.
Related: MITRE ATT&CK Used for Cybersecurity Skills Development
Related: MITRE Publishes New List of Most Dangerous Software Weaknesses
