US eyes broader cyber-threat pact with companies

The US government is close to completing rules for a long-awaited expansion of the number of defense contractors with which it swaps data on cyber threats, the Defense Department's chief information officer said.

The number of companies would jump from 37 currently to 200, said Teri Takai, the chief information officer. She said she hoped that a federal rule-making process under way would wrap up within the next 60 days amid what she and other Pentagon officials describe as mounting cyber threats to US high-tech companies. The companies will have to agree on a protocol for information-sharing among themselves and with the Defense Department, which will act as coordinator for the Defense Industrial Base Cyber Security and Information Assurance program.