Austin, TX--[EMERGENCY NOTIFICATION NEWS]-- August 27, 2007 – MessageOne today announced it has been selected by the Financial Services Information Sharing and Analysis Center (FS-ISAC) to offer the AlertFind emergency notification service to a membership of more than 4,000 financial institutions. Since signing on as a customer six months ago, FS-ISAC has utilized AlertFind to communicate urgent security information to its members. Extending the relationship will make it easier for financial services member organizations to protect employees.
Immediate Notification of Threats
Launched in 1999 by a presidential directive to secure U.S. resources, FS-ISAC works with the nation’s largest financial services institutions and the U.S. Treasury, to be the single source of timely, accurate physical and cyber security information. The FS-ISAC filters through and shares information from financial services providers, commercial security firms, federal, state and local government agencies, law enforcement and other trusted resources to minimize the impact of any threat for its members. When there is a threat or emergency, including natural disasters, coordinated cyber attacks, disease outbreaks or specific acts of terrorism, FS-ISAC uses AlertFind to help protect the critical U.S. infrastructure.
Given the urgent nature of FS-ISAC’s mission, AlertFind’s two-way communications capability is critical for saving lives and protecting assets in an emergency. AlertFind enables customers, like the FS-ISAC, to instantly contact thousands of employees or members to deliver important messages using individual’s preferred method of communication (e.g., cell phone, email, home phone, etc.). The system, which can tell the difference between a real person and voicemail, is able to deliver an spoken electronic or recorded message and even ask questions such as, “Are you okay?”
The Importance of a Platform for Communications
“Since financial service organizations can be a target for a variety of different cyber and physical threats, the ability to share information immediately through an automated, two-way system will empower our members with the facts they need to help keep U.S. infrastructure safe,” said Bill Nelson, president and CEO for FS-ISAC. “Specific cyber threats from overseas organized crime units, intense weather conditions that have crippled cities and regional power outages are just a few recent events that can have a real impact on our members. AlertFind enables us to easily communicate whenever one or all of our members might be affected by a threat or emergency.”
“As a MessageOne customer, we know first hand how valuable this tool is for financial services organizations,” said Blaise D'Ambrosio, vice president of Business Continuity for T. Rowe Price Group Inc. “Emergency notification helps financial services organizations drastically improve their ability to react to any crisis or emergency situation. First, it immediately connects management to employees to provide safety information. Once we know the status of our employees, we can begin implementing a recovery plan. Ensuring safety and protecting the vitality of our business is a powerful combination.”
About FS-ISAC
Launched in 1999, FS-ISAC was established by the financial services sector in response to 1998's Presidential Directive 63. That directive - later updated by 2003's Homeland Security Presidential Directive 7 - mandated that the public and private sectors share information about physical and cyber security threats and vulnerabilities to help protect the U.S. critical infrastructure.
Source: Vendor Press Release
