National Cyber Security Summit Addresses Paramount Issue of Information Security Governance
Entrust CEO Bill Conner Serves as Co-Chair of Corporate Governance Task Force
03 Dec 2003
SANTA CLARA, CA - Entrust, Inc. [NASDAQ: ENTU] Chairman, CEO and president Bill Conner today joined with members of the National Cyber Security Summit's Corporate Governance Task Force, of which he serves as Co-Chairman, for its inaugural meeting in Santa Clara, California. The Summit, jointly sponsored by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and members of the high-tech industry has brought together a number of senior government officials, chief executives, academicians and others to address the paramount issue of protecting the nation's critical infrastructure and information networks.
The Corporate Governance Task Force has been established to drive private industry implementation of effective cyber security initiatives and provide chief executives with an information security management framework to incorporate as part of their organizations' overall corporate governance programs.
Following today's meetings, the task force will report four key deliverables that will be outlined at a public event tomorrow to highlight the Summit's overall objectives. These deliverables include:
- A task force mission statement;
- An overview of the key strategies and associated implementation activities that will drive execution of the task force's mission;
- An overview of the expected deliverables for the task force for each of the key activities; and
- A high-level implementation plan.
"Only when executive management, guided by strong information security governance frameworks, actively engages on these important issues will we see the broad implementation of effective programs and solutions," said Conner. "From financial services and energy to telecommunications and health care - our modern platforms of commerce and physical security depend on a robust and safe network environment. This environment does not presently exist, but today's meetings served as a positive precursor to what can and must be achieved to make it a reality. In order to protect these essential networks, cyber security must become a national priority and responsibility shared both by governments and private sector executives."
"While the issues surrounding information security governance are complex, the solutions need not be. The technological tools are readily available and proven. The next step is for private industry and executive management to integrate cyber security into their core governance practices," continued Conner.
As part of today's meetings, Conner highlighted a management framework released last October that served as the work product of the Business Software Alliance's (BSA) Information Security Governance (ISG) Task Force, of which he also serves as Co-Chairman. Key findings of that task force include:
- Government has already established a significant legislative and regulatory environment around IT security, and is considering additional action;
- Information security is often treated solely as a technology issue, when it should also be treated as a governance issue;
- Broad consensus on the actions necessary to remedy the problem already exists; and
- Lack of progress is due in part to the absence of a governance framework.
The work completed by BSA, and other industry initiatives, will serve as initial roadmaps from which the task force will develop specific plans mandated under the National Strategy to Secure Cyber Space, and also produce an information security management framework for private industry.
As part of a CEO Forum held last October in Washington, DC, Entrust's Conner and a number of other chief executives met with senior Bush Administration and congressional leaders to discuss public and private sector cyber security initiatives, including issues related to information security governance. Additionally, Conner recently gave a presentation on information security governance to international officials and European executives at the EastWest Institute Worldwide Security Forum in Brussels, Belgium.