Arkansas Infragard Chapter Sponsors Security Conference

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark., April 21, 2003 — The Arkansas InfraGard Chapter, which is sponsored by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), and the Information Technology Research Center (ITRC) of the Sam M. Walton College of Business, University of Arkansas, are sponsoring a regional security conference on May 14-15 at the University of Arkansas Center for Continuing Education.

InfraGard members and company leaders from Arkansas, Kansas, Oklahoma and Missouri will attend this premiere security conference, which is also open to professionals from established companies or government organizations.

The registration fee is $295 for those registered by Friday, May 2, 2003. Participants may register online at: http://itrc.uark.edu/infragard/ . Registration fee covers two days of seminars, lunch both days and a reception.

The Center for Continuing Education of the University of Arkansas is located at 2 E. Center St., on the Square in Downtown Fayetteville.

Presented by leading experts from across the country, the two-day agenda is filled with security information of importance to most organizations, both commercial and government organizations. The broad range of security topics covers many business functions from people-oriented managerial topics to computer-based techniques. There will be choices of parallel sessions on engaging issues including wireless network security, executive protection, disaster recovery, intrusion detection, intellectual property rights, computer security, and much more.

Computer crime is one of the most dynamic problems organizations face today, and the InfraGard Initiative has opened up lines of communication between the public and private sectors and the law enforcement community. Interest in the InfraGard program is growing dramatically across the U. S. as a result of the close interaction and communications between companies, city, county and federal and state government security officials. Computer crime is just one of the many topics that will be presented at the conference.

The National InfraGard Program began as a pilot project in 1996, when the Cleveland FBI Field Office asked local computer professionals to assist the FBI in determining how to better protect critical information systems in the public and private sectors. From this new partnership, the first InfraGard Chapter was formed to address both cyber and physical threats. The FBI, in conjunction with representatives from the private industry, the academic community, and the public sector, further developed the "InfraGard" initiative to expand direct contacts with the private sector infrastructure owners and operators and to share information about cyber intrusions, exploited vulnerabilities, and infrastructure threats. The initiative, encouraging the exchange of information by government and private sector members, has continued to expand through the formation of additional InfraGard chapters, within the jurisdiction of each FBI Field Office. There are now 72 active chapters of InfraGard, with over 7,900 members across the nation. The Arkansas chapter was formed in 2000 and now has 78 members from 41 academic, commercial and government organizations.

The Information Technology Research Center (ITRC) was established in the Walton College in 1999 with a portion of the endowment created by the Walton Family Charitable Support Foundation gift of $50 million in 1998. The ITRC conducts IT research for and with organizations, collects and analyzes data, provides on-site research reviews, hosts research workshops and provides research facilities.

For more information on the ITRC, check the web at http://itrc.uark.edu or contact (479) 575-4261.