The new information-sharing initiative is an extension of Infraguard, a 3-year-old program first put together to stem attacks on the nation’s economic infrastructure, including businesses, medical facilities, financial institutions, and water, energy and transportation agencies, says Peter Trahon, supervisory special agent at the FBI’s Regional Computer Intrusion Squad. The organization now has about 80 Bay Area companies involved.

According to a Bay Area-based survey funded in part by the FBI, 90 percent of survey respondents, primarily large corporations and government agencies, reported computer security breaches in the past 12 months and 80 percent acknowledged financial losses. The most serious included the loss of proprietary information and financial fraud, with 74 percent saying the attack came via the Internet.

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