Federal, state and local government officials met with payments company experts at the Atlanta offices of Holland &
Knight to begin a dialogue about cooperation that improves Transaction Alley’s resiliency after a significant and
coordinated cyber attack.
The summit, convened by the ATPC, is the direct result of a November 2015 meeting at the National Cybersecurity and
Communications Integration Center during a Capitol Hill fly-in. Leadership from Homeland Security, the Secret Service,
the FBI and the FSISAC agreed during the meeting that local conversations should commence to ensure attack
prevention, preparedness and response capabilities are in place. The initial Georgia gathering is the first in a string of
meetings intended to build relationships and a pipeline for data exchanges between the payments industry and
government cyber officials. Representatives from the Department of Homeland Security’s Cyber Advisors program,
Georgia Bureau of Investigation, Georgia Technology Authority, FBI Atlanta office, and City of Atlanta and industry experts
shared their perspective on the current state of affairs and best practices with ATPC-member companies InComm and
Ingenico Group North America, who also outlined the payments cyber environment and how the “plumbing works.”
A roundtable discussion closed the session, with participants setting goals and objectives for the group and planning its
next meeting for Fall of 2016. Meeting participants then took a behind-the-scenes tour of InComm’s network operations
center, to better understand how prepaid payment processors track and manage transactions from around the globe in
real-time.
The Department of Homeland Security acknowledged Transaction Alley’s prominence, as evidenced by a forthcoming
announcement that includes placement of a new, full-time person in Atlanta to manage their industry engagement.
Understanding the national security dynamics associated with Transaction Alley’s role in the financial grid, the
department committed to working with ATPC-member companies, voluntarily, on a more granular level to enhance cyber
preparedness platforms for the payments industry. InComm and Ingenico Group North America have already committed
to continue the dialogue and look for ways to share information and best practices that sharpen real-time defense. ATPC
is taking a leadership role in enhancing Transaction Alley’s cyber resiliency.