Security executives from Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and other Wall Street firms are getting together this month to talk about a system for sharing information to detect potential cyber threats, reports Suzanne Kapner at The Wall Street Journal. The rival companies are being compelled to work with each other to address the mounting problem of cybersecurity.

Researchers at the Polytechnic Institute of New York University are talking with the financial institutions about a system for filtering their massive quantities of data to identify possible threats, Kapner reports. In the meantime, Bank of America is meeting with other banks on a quarterly basis to find ways to protect themselves from hackers.

"We realized that just as the fraudsters collaborate with each other, we as an industry must collaborate," said Keith Gordon, Bank of America's senior vice president of security.

Financial firms are among the targets of choice for hackers, and banks are spending more and more to strengthen their defenses. While many in the industry see the theoretical benefit in sharing information, there remains a concern that it could compromise their competitiveness. The Polytechnic Institute's idea for collective data sifting is expected to raise at least a few objections, Kapner reports.

"The mentality of the banks has been, 'Let's do everything internally because we don't want to give anything away,'" said Peyman Mestchian, a managing partner with Chartis Research in London.

For more:
- see Suzanne Kapner's article in The Wall Street Journal

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