Advanced Micro Devices, Honeywell, Intel Corp., Lockheed Martin and RSA/EMC announced the creation of the Cyber Security Research Alliance (CSRA), a private, non-profit research consortium formed in response to the growing need for increased public-private collaboration to address complex problems in cyber security.

CSRA seeks to achieve coordinated industry participation to address national cyber security research and development (R&D) imperatives and bridge the gap between government funded R&D and commercially available products and solutions in cyber security. CSRA will focus on challenges that are bigger than any one company, consortium, sector or nation and ensure that government, industry and academia collaborate on in-depth problem understanding and definition. The CSRA's priority research areas are data and information sharing, control system security and threat mitigation.

"The CSRA is organized to leverage expertise, from member companies and partners in government and academia. Together we hope to create viable, game- changing cyber security solutions," said Lee Holcomb, president of the CSRA and vice president of strategic initiatives at Lockheed Martin.

Initially, CSRA will focus on building the organization and developing viable collaboration models. Activities and focus areas for the organization will include:

• Prioritizing the "grand challenges" in cybersecurity through the collaboration of all stakeholders
• Tracking cybersecurity R&D activities
• Developing viable approaches to technology transfer

The CSRA is discussing with the national institute of standards and technology (NIST) the arrangement for a joint cyber security research symposium in early 2013 to connect researchers and early adopters from across the private, academic, and government sectors.

"Putting into practice the exciting cyber security innovations that emerge from research requires active partnerships between government and industry and also among private sector stakeholders. The emergence of CSRA can strengthen both kinds of partnerships and we look forward to working with this new organization to promote a trustworthy cyberspace for our nation and its citizens," said Chuck Romine, director of NIST's information technology laboratory.

Tags: AMD, Honeywell, Intel, Lockheed Martin, RSA, EMC, CSRA