Ellen Ritchey, vice chairman of risk and public policy atVisa, urged cybersecurity officials and executives to meet andwork together more efficiently and completely to counter threatsfrom hackers.

“At Visa we aren't as interested in what happens after the factas in what we can all do to prevent attacks and make thingsbetter,” Ritchey told the audience at the Washington, D.C. meetingon March 26. “We need to communicate more and cooperate morebecause we know the other side is cooperating. We know the otherside has no problem communicating and coordinating on what they'redoing, and we have to do that and surpass that.”

Ritchey spoke as part of a panel with Nuala O'Connor, presidentand CEO of the Washington, D.C.-based Center for Privacy andTechnology, and Governor Tim Pawlenty, CEO of the Financial ServicesRoundtable.

The Center is one of the most vocal advocates of consumerprivacy and The Roundtable is the trade association for the biggestbanks.

Pawlenty agreed with Ritchey about the need to cooperate andurged lawmakers to elevate cybersecurity concerns, particularlywith countries that either sponsor hackers or simply shelter them,to the level of foreign affairs and national securitydiscussions.

“That's really what it's going to take to make progress,”Pawlenty said.