An assembly of tech giants including AMD, Honeywell, Intel, Lockheed Martin, and RSA, has come together to form the “Cyber Security Research Alliance”, a consortium that will focus on the “grand challenges” for cyber security and next generation technologies.
Priority research areas for the organization will include data and information sharing, control system security, and threat mitigation.
CSRA said that it is looking for “coordinated industry participation to address national cyber security research and development (R&D) imperatives and bridge the gap between government funded R&D and commercially available products and solutions in cyber security”.
“The CSRA is organized to leverage expertise, from member companies and partners in government and academia,” said Lee Holcomb, president of the CSRA and vice president of Strategic Initiatives, Lockheed Martin Information Systems & Global Solutions. “Together we hope to create viable, game- changing cyber security solutions.”
“Putting into practice the exciting cyber security innovations that emerge from research requires active partnerships between government and industry and also among private sector stakeholders,” said Chuck Romine, Director of NIST’s Information Technology Laboratory. “The emergence of CSRA can strengthen both kinds of partnerships and we look forward to working with this new organization to promote a trustworthy cyberspace for our nation and its citizens.”
Initially, the CSRA said it would focus on building the organization and developing collaboration models, and get initiatives under way including tracking cybersecurity R&D activities and developing viable approaches to technology transfer.
The organization also noted that it hops arrange a joint cyber security research symposium in early 2013 with the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) to connect researchers and early adopters from the private, academic, and government sectors.
Stakeholders involved in cyber security R&D, system integrators, owners and operators of critical infrastructures, and academic researchers and institutions qualify to become CSRA members, but are subject to approval by the CSRA board.
Membership starts at $15,000 per year for “Affiliated Members”, to $60,000 per year for founding members.
More information on CSRA is available here.