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Protecting IT Infrastructure High Priority

With cyberterrorism becoming an increasing threat, the Big Four auditing firms have joined forces with Internet security companies and public/private networks to help secure America's information infrastructure.

Since September 11, the federal government has undergone the largest reorganization since World War II and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security has been formed. Now the government is turning its attention toward protecting the information technology infrastructure that silently powers the U.S. economy.

Last week the nation’s Big Four auditing firms - PricewaterhouseCoopers, KPMG, Ernst & Young and Deloitte & Touche - appeared at a Conference sponsored by RSA Security in San Francisco alongside White House cyber security guru Howard Schmidt to begin generating support for enhanced IT security in the private and public sectors.

The firms promised their technical expertise to TechNet - a bipartisan network of CEO's that promotes the growth of Technology Industries - as it shores up its Cyber Security Practices Adoption Campaign, geared toward promoting awareness of issues such as risk assessment, contingency planning and mitigation techniques.

The Internet Security Alliance and TechNet CEO Cyber Security Task Force have joined hands in the effort to provide senior managers with the tools they need to protect their sensitive business systems from cyber terrorism. TechNet expects to release its best practices list later this year.

"We feel there’s a sense of urgency here," said TechNet President and Chief Executive Officer Rick White. "We’re going to challenge companies to meet a goal by a particular date — the goal for the private sector the government has issued to us." This is critical since the private sector controls the basic infrastructure, including protocols and DNS servers, that government relies upon to power its IT functions.

White House cyber chief Schmidt does not expect that the government will levy sanctions on private sector firms who don’t take steps to protect their IT systems, but believes that customer backlash will result against those who don’t take prudent protective measures.

Source: www.accountingweb.com


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