AP: Bush Administration Working On Internet Security Proposal

Acco rding to documents obtained by the Associated Press last week, the US government is considering a new security plan that would put obligations on companies, schools, home users and government agencies to tighten up their act. A Yahoo! Finance news article details the plan:

The goal is to "empower all Americans to secure their portions of cyberspace," according to one document identified as an executive summary for the National Strategy to Secure Cyberspace.

Other ideas under consideration include:

-Improving security of wireless technologies, and prohibiting their use in some cases by federal workers;

-Spending more to protect computer systems that help operate major utilities like water and power;

-Studying ways to respond to cyberattacks when the source of the attacks cannot be distinguished immediately between a hostile government or teenage hacker;

-Creating an industry testing center that would make sure software updates donit cause security problems;

-Studying the creation of a new government network to handle communications and computing in case of Internet outages.

A White House official cautioned Friday the ideas cited in the working papers are subject to change until President George W. Bush approves them. Even then, recommendations would have to go through traditional policy and budget processes, which could include congressional approval, the official said.

A final plan is expected to be revealed on September 18th. The AP pointed out that while the funding for this proposal is not explicitly detailed in the documents, it is likely to be a combination of industry contributions and tax revenues. You can read the article in full at Yahoo! Finance.