Amias Gerety, acting assistant secretary for financial institutions at the Treasury Department, has said collaboration between the department and other government agencies as well as the financial industry is key to bolster cybersecurity.Gerety said Wednesday the president’s executive order on cyber information sharing works to encourage private-sector institutions to collaborate with each other and with the government and mitigate the impact of cyber threats.
“Coordinating public and private sector perspectives and resources effectively is the only way to build a comprehensive picture of the cyber threats we face and to protect against them,” he said.
He noted that Treasury will work with the Department of Homeland Security in creating information sharing and analysis organizations and setting up voluntary functional standards.
Treasury has also partnered with both DHS and the Financial Services Information Sharing and Analysis Center to push forward the automation of information-sharing activities to accelerate the response to potential threats.
According to Gerety, the department is also using the Structured Threat Information Expression format in sharing information on cyber threat indicators.
“By remaining coordinated and working together, joint public-private initiatives are our best defense against the malevolent efforts of individual actors, thereby protecting the stability of the financial system and the interests of American citizens,” he said.
