Firms Establish Security Center to Stop Hackers

WASHINGTON —  AT&T; Corp., Microsoft Corp., Cisco Systems Inc. and 16 other companies said they have created a center to share data about their computer systems to stem attacks like one last year that caused Yahoo Inc.’s Web site and others to crash.

The companies will exchange information about threats, attacks, areas where networks may be vulnerable and solutions to problems through Internet Security Systems Inc., which is under contract to operate the center.

The Information Technology Information Sharing & Analysis Center will be operated as a nonprofit organization and will be based in Atlanta.

The industry vowed to create such a mechanism in February at a White House summit on network security. The meeting came just days after vandals flooded Yahoo’s site with traffic that halted the sending and receiving of information from legitimate users.