U.S. cybersecurity czar tasks IT industry

WASHINGTON - To secure the national information infrastructure against future terrorist attacks, President George W. Bush's cyberspace security advisor told an IT gathering Tuesday that the government will take steps toward greater information security, but the industry must do its part, too.

Speaking at the Business Software Alliance's Global Tech Summit here, Richard Clarke was upbeat about the technology industry's near-term future, but also stressed that vulnerabilities exposed by the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks must be acknowledged and repaired.

"We've defeated the Taliban, we're smashing al Qaeda, and the economy will rebound," he said, adding that the "full promise of information technology can and will be achieved. But we must understand the lessons of Sept. 11."

Those lessons, according to Clarke, include realizing that the U.S. has, and will continue to have, enemies that will "use our technology against us," he said, by exploiting fissures and seams in the nation's technology infrastructure. To combat these enemies, the public and private sector must work in partnership, he said.

Acknowledging that there has been a "tradition of hostility" between the government and the IT industry, Clarke extended an olive branch by offering government assistance in a number of areas.

Perhaps most interesting to technology executives, Clarke said the government is willing to back off regulating the industry.

"The government is willing to be guided by the principle that it won't achieve IT security through regulation," Clarke said. "Congress and the federal agencies should be discouraged from trying to craft IT regulation into law."

The government can do research, he continued, noting with concern that private sector spending on security research and development is on the decline. Government resources can be channelled into areas where the industry has pulled back, such as security.

Supporting his statement, Clarke announced that the National Center for Infrastructure Simulation and Analysis will open as soon as next month. The center will simulate information networks as well as critical infrastructures such as power, gas, and telephone grids and "create an acupuncture map of the country" to determine what the affects are when excess pressure is put on one of those resources.

Sponsoring legislation to encourage information sharing between the private and public sectors is another thing government can do, Clarke said. Senator Robert Bennett, a Republican from Utah, in September proposed an act that would let IT companies share vulnerability information with the government without fear of public disclosure through the Freedom of Information Act, he said. President Bush has endorsed the measure, and Clarke said he hopes it will pass Congress before the holiday break.

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