Federal-State Cybersecurity Partnership

December 15, 2009: Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Janet Napolitano and Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm today announced a first-of-its-kind federal-state cybersecurity partnership—deploying the federally-developed cybersecurity technology EINSTEIN 1 to Michigan’s cyber networks.

“Effective cybersecurity is a shared responsibility between the federal government and our state, local and tribal partners to protect our cyber networks from terrorism and other intrusions,” said Secretary Napolitano. “This first of its kind federal-state partnership will not only enhance our capabilities to defend Michigan from cyber threats, it will also strengthen our ability to protect networks and cyber assets nationwide.”

“This proof of concept will benefit Michigan’s cybersecurity interests by further enhancing its ability to identify and resolve a greater range of threats to its cyber infrastructure in coordination with a broad range of federal government entities,” explained Governor Granholm. “It will enable greater federal and state coordination to promote mutual cybersecurity interests and, if successful, will inform the efforts of state governments to enhance their own cybersecurity efforts.”

EINSTEIN 1 technology automates the collection and analysis of computer network security information from participating agency and government networks to help analysts identify and combat malicious cyber activity that may threaten government network systems, data protection, and communications infrastructure.

As part of the partnership with Michigan, DHS’ U.S. Computer Emergency Readiness Team (US-CERT) will identify possible abnormal activities on Michigan’s networks and address threats to critical cyber infrastructure—strengthening defenses against cyber attacks and the overall resiliency of Michigan’s networks and cyber resources.