Introduction

The NATO IA Symposium (NIAS) is an annual event between senior NATO, NATO national IA staff and leading industry IA providors to develop industry best practice solutions for NATO use.

The NATO IAS will bring together more than 400 NATO delegates and 180 industry representitives. NIAS is the biggest IA event within the NATO IA calender.

The NATO IAS 2008 will be held on 6 through 10 October at SHAPE Belgium.

Cyber defence was once again high on the agenda of the recent NATO Summit held in Bucharest. This bears testament to the importance that the Alliance places in the security of its CIS infrastructure, which is critical to every mission that NATO undertakes and every part of our daily business. From the NATO Press, released after the Summit:

NATO remains commited to strengthening key Alliance information systems against cyber attacks. We have recently adopted a Policy on Cyber Defence, and are developing the structures and authorities to carry it out. Our Policy on Cyber Defence empasises the need for NATO and nations to protect key information systems in accordance with their respective responsibilities; share best practises; and provide a capability to assist Allied nations, upon request, to counter a cyber attack. We look forward to continuing the development of NATO's cyber defence capabilities and strengthening the linkages between NATO and national authoritites,"