Government Must Make Security a Priority, Experts Say

While the country’s political parties are trying to decide on presidential candidates, a number of security executives are already warning that the next president had better play close attention to IT security.

In an article on the Government Computer News website, William Jackson says executives at Symantec made the remarks to reporters last week at a lunch in Washington. They also said Congress must be willing to provide adequate funding for the task.

“These are clear and present dangers,” Symantec Chief Operating Officer Enrique Salem told reporters. “There is a real exposure.”

Officials from the company said the new president’s IT security priorities should include getting federal data breach legislation passed, patent reform, anti-spyware legislation, improving the government’s cybersecurity posture and reforming visa rules for high-tech workers coming into the country.

“The track record so far has not been good in these areas, with none of these initiatives making it to the president’s desk despite the best efforts of industry and other advocates,” Jackson says.

One of the reasons comprehensive data breach and anti-spyware legislation has not been passed is the number of competing bills that have been introduced.

“The real bogeyman of data security has been overlapping jurisdictions on the Hill,” government relations manager Kevin Richards told reporters, which means many committees claim some part of the data security turf and that makes the creation of one bill law difficult.

To read the full article, click here: http://www.gcn.com/online/vol1_no1/45733-1.html?topic=technology_products