2011 was a banner year for security breaches, including thehighly publicized Lockheed Martin, FBI, Sony Play Station Networkand Citigroup breaches. Lesser-known but collectivelydamaging attacks against lower profile targets, including creditunions, were also on the rise as 2011 ushered in a measurableincrease in breaches targeting smaller organizations.

Today's cybercriminals are banding together – learning from eachother, devising new ways to attack our security defenses andwreaking havoc on their targets as well as entire industries. Inthe last six years, we have witnessed year-over-year growth in thescope and impact of breaches. As a result, many are left wonderingif the good guys stand any chance against these cybercriminals.

As the founder and CEO of Wisegate, a private onlinecommunity for senior-level IT executives, I have the privilege ofworking with some of IT's best and brightest security professionalswith a ringside seat to the private discussions that unfold in theaftermath of these attacks.

Our members, CISOs and senior security practitioners frombrand-name companies and government agencies, come together todebate these issues, and one solution to this growing problemstands clear – collaboration. If the bad guys are getting better atcollaboration, so must the good guys.

In a recent Wisegate poll, 81% of senior info securityrespondents agreed that “Infosec professionals collaborating moreto outsmart hackers” was the preemptive measure that would have thegreatest potential to reduce the frequency and scope of hackerattacks.

I like the idea of fighting crime through collaboration, whichis not a new idea. It reminds me of stories told about the WildWild West. After all, what's going on with hackers today is a lotlike what the ranchers of the 19th and 20th centuries faced withcattle rustlers.

As the West was settled and cattle ranching flourished, rustlersshowed up, banded together and stole cattle. It was a seriousproblem. In order for any of the ranchers to survive they had tojoin together – even though some of them were competitors. Theyrealized that no one rancher had enough manpower to deal withroving bands of rustlers; they needed to create a force that wasgreater than that of their enemy. They couldn't go it alone.

The ranchers fought the rustlers through collaboration and itworked. The ranchers put a serious dent in the rustling. They evenretrieved a lot of stolen cattle. And when the rustlers saw thatstealing cattle was no longer easy, they started looking elsewhereto cause trouble.

Fast forward to today.

Cybercriminals are using significant intelligence-gatheringtechniques and coordinating their efforts to get information aboutthe consumers and sensitive data the good guys are trying tosecure. Jeff Bardin who is a Wisegate member, well known financialservices CISO and cyber intelligence professor, tells us that,“Cybercriminals will examine Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube sites,anything they can think of, to gather info that they can use tofind ways into corporate environments to get at valuable data.” Andtoday data is equal to what cattle were in the Old West – money.

Phil Agcaoili, Wisegate member, chief information securityofficer at Cox Communications, founding member of the CloudSecurity Alliance and co-chair of the FCC CSRIC Cyber SecurityWorking Group, believes there's a strong correlation between theincrease in and sophistication of security breaches and thecoordination of today's hackers. He says, “They've really gottentogether, shared what they know, and have done a good job ofjoining forces to attack the defenses that our security experts arebuilding in cyberspace.”

Agcaoili believes that senior security professionals can counterthese attacks by better coordinating their own understanding ofbest practices for cyber-security and sharing real-timeintelligence on current issues and defenses.

Collaboration isn't easy – it takes time and motivation. I amproud to witness the sharing of information among dedicatedsecurity professionals (the cowboys of today) who are bandingtogether, not out of mandatory obligation, but rather in solidarityto right what is wrong.

Tom Malta, Wisegate member and senior technology riskexecutive in financial services, including Goldman Sachs, MorganStanley, and BNY Mellon explains, “When top security pros are ableto share experiences and collaborate to outsmartcybercriminals, entire industries like financial services stand tobenefit.”

I think Malta is right and senior IT executives agree – It'stime for the ranchers and cowboys of information security to bandtogether, armed with their collective brainpower, to outsmart thebad guys.

Just like in the old days, there's power in numbers.

Sara Gates isfounder and CEO of the Wisegate social knowledge network for seniorprofessionals.