NIST Kicks Off New National Cybersecurity Center of Excellence

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) hosted a workshop to kick off the National Cybersecurity Center of Excellence (NCCoE), a new public-private collaboration that will bring together experts from industry, government and academia to design, implement, test and demonstrate integrated cybersecurity solutions and promote their widespread adoption.

The NCCoE will provide a state-of-the-art computing facility where researchers from NIST can work collaboratively with both the users and vendors of products and services on holistic cybersecurity approaches. NIST is hosting the center in collaboration with the state of Maryland and Montgomery County, Md. By providing a test bed where new ideas and technologies can be tried out before being deployed, the center provides the opportunity to thoroughly document and share each solution, supporting specific industry sector business challenges. This will encourage the rapid adoption of comprehensive cybersecurity templates and approaches that support automated and trustworthy e-government and e-commerce.

The goals are to:

• enhance trust in U.S. IT communications, data, and storage systems;
• lower risk for companies and individuals using IT systems;
• encourage development of innovative, job-creating cybersecurity products and services.

The center’s work will be pursued through public-private sector teams organized around “use cases.” Team members will work together to identify objectives and create opportunities for collaborative leadership among technology and business communities.