IP: washingtonpost.com article: Cybersecurity a Top Priority

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

> From today's Washington Post
> http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A42165-2002Feb7.html
>
>
>
> Cybersecurity a Top Priority
>
> By Ariana Eunjung Cha

auto-abstract

The unusual announcements from three of the technology industry's most 
powerful men came just weeks apart.

Microsoft Corp. Chairman Bill Gates declared that making his company's 
software less vulnerable to security breaches would take precedence over 
adding new features.

Cisco Systems Inc.'s John Chambers told clients at a private conference 
that he no longer regarded security enhancements on equipment that directs 
traffic across the Internet as extras but as necessities.

In private meetings with chief executives and in speeches at conferences, 
Clarke has pushed companies to commit themselves to protecting the online 
world from attacks by terrorists and other nefarious parties.

Clarke's push is part of a government-wide effort to improve cybersecurity 
and to better coordinate the efforts of bureaucracies and corporations.

Just yesterday, the House passed a bill that would allocate $880 million 
over five years to computer-security research.

And a coalition of companies in partnership with the federal government 
announced a National Cybersecurity Campaign to teach home and 
small-business computer users how to safeguard their machines.

The Commerce Department's Critical Infrastructure Assurance Office and the 
FBI's National Infrastructure Protection Center outreach operations -- two 
groups known for past turf battles -- will join Clarke's staff.

While Tom Ridge's Office of Homeland Security has taken the lead in issuing 
alerts about physical threats, it has always been the FBI's job to let the 
public know about viruses, worms, hacks and other things that threaten the 
online world.

Instead, Clarke and his staff brought binders full of research papers 
raising questions about security vulnerabilities.

They were not above coaxing or bullying the business officials with threats 
of regulation and appeals to patriotism.

"To get these companies to put their money where their mouths have been for 
years, that is a major victory for his office," said Gilman Louie, who 
heads In-Q-Tel, the high-tech venture fund financed by the Central 
Intelligence Agency.

But even as they praise his aggressiveness, some question Clarke's priorities.

His proposal to create GovNet has been criticized by many experts as 
impractical and costly.


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