New York City has become the first major American metropolitan area to open a real-time operational center to protect against cybersecurity threats, regional officials said.
Set in a lower Manhattan skyscraper, the center is staffed by a coalition of government agencies and private businesses, with 282 partners overall sharing intelligence on potential cyber threats. Its members range from the New York Police Department to Amazon.com Inc. and International Business Machines Corp. to the Federal Reserve Bank and several New York healthcare systems.
Until last week, the two-year effort known as New York City Cyber Critical Services and Infrastructure was completely virtual.
New York’s cyberdefense center opens as attacks against government and business infrastructure increase across the country. In recent months, cyberattacks have struck U.S. pipelines, meat producers and software companies.
New York has long been seen as particularly vulnerable because of its status as a business center and symbol of American financial and cultural power.