A fledgling nonprofit group working to develop an automated cyber-attack early warning system, the Cyber Incident Detection Data Analysis Center (CIDDAC), is about to begin a pilot project to collect data on network intrusions from a group of companies in national-infrastructure industries.

Backed by a grant from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, CIDDAC has set up an operations center at the University of Pennsylvania's Institute of Strategic Threat Analysis and Response laboratory. Around 30 organizations will eventually participate in the project, although some are still being selected, according to CIDDAC Executive Director Charles "Buck" Fleming. He expects to have useful data from the pilot test in about five months.

CIDDAC has been two years in the making. Fleming, the former president of Philadelphia-based Linux services company LinuxForce Inc., says that after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks he began talking with others in the IT industry about the need for protections against a terrorist attack on the nation's electronic infrastructure. CIDDAC's focus is on linking together organizations in industries such as banking, electrical power, gas and oil, telecommunications and transportation.

CIDDAC doesn't disclose the names of its members, and none are yet willing to publicly identify themselves, according to CIDDAC representatives. However, the organization's board of directors includes executives from Liberty Bell Bank, the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia, gas company Air Products and Chemicals Inc. and energy consultancy Kema Inc., according to CIDDACs Web site.

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