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Spy vs. spy: FBI seeks sleuthing partners in Homeland Security mission

InfraGard is an association of businesses, schools, state and local law enforcement and private individuals dedicated to sharing information and intelligence "to prevent hostile acts against the United States." The FBI partner organization consists of a national network of 84 local chapters whose members are unpaid volunteers. Founders initially courted IT managers at large companies, figuring they could assist the government in fighting cyber-crime while protecting their own corporate interests. However, since the 9/11 attacks four years ago, they're increasingly recruiting professionals with non-IT backgrounds to join.

2005-09-28

An innovative crime-busting partnership between Federal Bureau of Investigation field offices and information technology professionals works so well that InfraGard directors are trolling for new members with expertise in other fields ranging from energy to food service. Officially, InfraGard is an association of businesses, schools, state and local law enforcement and private individuals "dedicated to sharing information and intelligence to prevent hostile acts against the United States." Begun in the Cleveland, Ohio, FBI field office eight years ago, the partnership has blossomed into a national network of 84 local chapters. Founders initially courted IT managers at large companies, figuring they could assist the government in fighting cyber-crime while protecting their own corporate interests. Participation is voluntary and unpaid. The number of attacks against computer systems that control critical infrastructures such as oil and gas facilities, water-treatment, electrical-generating and nuclear power plants, communication and transportation services is growing, says Phoenix, Ariz., attorney Christopher Pierson, who serves on the Phoenix InfraGard's board of directors. "This is about securing the homeland through information sharing," says Pierson, who also is Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano's appointee to Homeland Security. In fact, such attacks have increased tenfold since 2000, according to a 2004 report released through the British Columbia Institute of Technology, which also estimates that up to 500 industrial security incidents go unreported annually. Most attacks come in the form of worms and viruses, but one company recently reported what seemed to be a Trojan horse written specifically for its proprietary computer system, notes report co-author Eric Byres, research manager of the Critical Infrastructure Security Center in Vancouver. InfraGard is a step in the right direction because preventing cyber-crime requires "better cooperation between government and people," Byres says. Since the 9/11 attacks four years ago, agents are increasingly likely to also seek members' input in anti-terrorism investigations, which is partly why they're increasingly recruiting professionals with non-IT backgrounds to join. "We used to get our handcuffs and go after the guys in the Crown Victoria," explains Kenneth Hancock, supervisory special agent with the Phoenix FBI office. "But since 9/11, our mission has changed from law enforcement to trying to stop terrorism." He's interested in hearing from people with expertise in IT as well as the following areas: education, financial services/banking/insurance, government/law enforcement, defense/military, telecommunications, energy, health/medical, water, chemical, agriculture/food and transportation." People who don't fit in any of these categories but have specific expertise to offer also can apply. Speaking to an audience of IT professionals recently at the third annual Security Symposium hosted by the W. P.Carey School's Center for the Advancement of Business Through Information Technology, Hancock urged those interested in joining InfraGard to download and fill out a two-page application. Applicants must pass a FBI background check that includes criminal and motor-vehicle record verification. If you pass scrutiny, InfraGard sends you software that enables access to an FBI Web site containing restricted — but not classified — information. Chapters sponsor monthly program meetings; although most are open to the public, security dictates some meetings are closed to non-members. Those interested in remaining anonymous to other members can do so; for instance, InfaGard doesn't publish a directory of members. Retirees as well as employed people are encouraged to check out the organization's Web site. "We know that sharing information is key to our mission. It's a new thing for the FBI to share information, but we've learned that it's got to be two-way," Hancock explains. InfraGard increasingly is sharing what it learns with members, because it wants to get the information back out to the people most likely to notice if something is amiss. Along those lines, InfraGard also is hosting training sessions aimed at helping members think like FBI agents. "Members gather intelligence, collaborate with agents, triage and analyze information and help disseminate it," he adds. When state employee Lee Lane first heard of InfraGard, he was not sure that he wanted to join. "I was initially skeptical about working with the FBI. For what purpose? That's what I wondered," he recalls. But Lee, now statewide security manager who oversees security at 124 Arizona agencies, says the collaboration works well. "I've served as a resource to FBI agents and analysts, and also asked them for help investigating situations. I now believe in them, and have even turned investigations over to Phoenix agents," he says. Now serving on Phoenix InfraGard's board of directors, Lee routinely passes on "sanitized" versions of FBI reports to other state agencies on a need-to-know basis. "You never know when the kaleidoscope of information says something is going to happen," he adds. But critics worry that some of this private sharing — between the FBI and non-government employees, for instance — may violate federal open-records law. "On the surface, it seems no more offensive than a Rotary Club meeting with the government in the loop, but there is concern if companies are giving the government information about what their customers are doing," says Kevin Bankston, an attorney with the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a nonprofit privacy rights group in San Francisco. Bankston adds, "There is no proof that this is happening. But when you have an informal, private meeting where the government meets with people from the private sector, there are no public records being generated, so we don't know what ideas the FBI is floating." Bankston mentioned a recent controversy in which Department of Justice representatives met informally with Internet service providers. "The DOJ tried to browbeat the providers into retaining more information on their customers as part of a campaign against child pornography," he relates. "The DOJ reportedly said it would seek legislation to force (retaining more information) if they didn't do it. Are there similar important issues being discussed behind closed doors with InfraGard?" Phoenix InfraGard member Jerry Crow, a senior architect of network services at Electronic Data Systems, says the group's focus is on protecting the country's infrastructure, pure and simple. Sometimes, though, members get involved in other exploits. He told the Security Symposium audience about an InfraGard member who, while shopping at Home Depot, noticed a couple of teens buying the materials to build pipe bombs. So he followed the teens to their vehicle, wrote down the license-plate number, then turned it over his local FBI contact. The FBI investigated and found the teens were, indeed, trying to build pipe bombs. Phoenix InfraGard's Pierson insists that members are patriots concerned about national security, and willing to help do their part to make us all safe. "These are people who have something to add. They self-select for InfraGard," he notes. "Their sharing information is based on trusting relationships — it comes down to individual relationships that build strength."

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