History
Our Origins
The Arizona Cyber Threat Response Alliance, Inc. (“ACTRA”) was initially incorporated by Arizona Infragard in January 2013 as an ‘independent operational arm', designed to address the increasing cyber threat to our national security. As a stand-alone 501(c)(3) nonprofit corporate entity, ACTRA provides a neutral environment for developing an atmosphere of trust to facilitate mutual information exchange among members. ACTRA Members benefit from active participation in ACTRA, and volunteer board members set policy that meets the collective and individual self-interest of all members. Points of Contact ("POC") within public and private businesses and government bodies are FBI vetted members of the 501(c)(3) Infragard. A diverse self perpetuating 13 Member Board of Directors, representing a broad range of experience and sector diversity, oversees ACTRA's affairs. Member organizations agree to support qualified individual volunteers who wish to serve on the ACTRA Board. The C-Level and VSRT Technical forums serve as the ‘Think Tank’ for assessing cyber threats through a ‘hacker mindset’ lens that gets into the adversary’s head. In turn, a ‘skunk works mentality’ establishes volunteer and advisory board driven 'out of the box solutions for information sharing and response’. These solutions recognizes legitimate priorities and align self-interest in responding to the threat. A designated ACTRA liaison officer serves as the point of contact and interface between the members, the FBI, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, the FBI's Arizona InfraGard Program and other agency stakeholders.
National Security / Risk Management Value Proposition
Empower essential private and public organizations themselves to provide a risk mitigation driven solution for the timely direct mutual exchange of/response to ‘victim non-attributable’ cyber information on a ‘need to share’ basis between and among participating private sector, public sector, law enforcement and intelligence organizations. The goal is to deliver a timely, cost effective, actionable individual and/or collective response to protect individual organization assets, improve our national security, and avoid unnecessary “info silos”.
Stakeholder Problem
Information sharing resulting in actionable intelligence between our private and public sector membership and law enforcement/intelligence partners to protect critical infrastructure and corporate assets from the escalating cyber threat targeting our national security must improve. A compelling value proposition exists for improved information sharing in response to member organizations clear collective communication that ‘too little information is received too late’ from the law enforcement and intelligence agencies. This reality prevents an effective response to both real threats, and hampers necessary two-way communication. The result is that organizations, and the United States both bear unacceptable risk and significant potential negative economic downside.
Solution
The solution lies in the private sector voluntarily taking the lead in initiating direct ‘grass roots’ information sharing between public and private organizations - 'without victim attribution' and with ‘appropriate safeguards’ - directly between and among vetted entities to achieve the desired outcome. Since public and private entities own the required information and should continue to retain that ownership, through ACTRA serving as the hub for exchange they are in the position to affect change and gain the primary benefit. In turn, law enforcement and intelligence agencies need for better access to information to respond to established and rapidly emerging national security threats will be satisfied through the recommended solution. A private sector driven initiative provides an optimal solution, but only if the process is driven directly by private/public sector Members for the benefit of the Members.
Information Security Strategy
Neither private/public sector organizations, nor intel/law enforcement agencies, will act against their own self-interest. Key barriers to information sharing generally stem from 'victim attribution' that can negatively impact public perception, among other considerations. For private companies this can also affect market value, provide a competitive disadvantage, create legal liability or raise anti-trust issues. The ACTRA framework provides a comfort level in this regard that includes the information sharing process itself masking attribution; strong non-disclosure agreements between parties; avoiding the need to share ‘Protected Critical Infrastructure Information’ (“PCII”), and aligning with existing state statutes, when appropriate.