Role of FS-ISAC in countering cyber terrorism

In recent times, reliance on interconnected computer systems to support critical operations and infrastructures and, at the same time, physical and cyber threats and potential attack consequences have increased. The importance of sharing information and coordinating the response to threats among stakeholders has never been so great. Information sharing and coordination among organizations are central to producing comprehensive and practical approaches and solutions to combating threats. Financial services institutions present highly financially attractive targets. The financial services industry, confronts cyber and physical threats from a great variety of sources ranging from potentially catastrophic attacks launched by terrorist groups or other national interest groups to the more commonly experienced extremely targeted attacks perpetrated by hackers and other malicious entities such as insiders. In this chapter we outline structure, major components, and concepts involved in information sharing and analysis in the financial services sector. Then we discuss the relevance and importance of protecting financial services institutions' infrastructure from cyber attacks vis-à-vis presentation of different issues and crucial aspects of current state of cyber terrorism. We also discuss role and structure of ISACs in counterterrorism; and constituents, functions, and details of FS-ISAC.