Monday Morning News Kick Off: Worldwide Cybersecurity Summit Happening This Week, Cyber Security Needs a Global Security Framework and More

Welcome to the Monday Morning News Kick Off post on the ITAC blog. As always, there is never a shortage of cyber security-related stories for us to cover. The big news this week is the Worldwide Cybersecurity Summit, which is opening up today is Dallas. Lots of key players will be on had including White House cybersecurity coordinator Howard Schmidt (pictured) and others. Stay tuned as we will be covering developments from this event through out the week. Happy Monday!

Governments, Businesses to Discuss Cyber Security Threats
Government officials and business leaders from around the world are meeting in Texas this week to discuss what all agree is an area of common and growing concern: cybersecurity. The Worldwide Cybersecurity Summit, hosted by the EastWest Institute (EWI), opens in Dallas on Monday and will feature three days of discussions on ways to protect the world’s digital infrastructure from electronic threats. Among those scheduled to address the gathering, being held in the wake of sophisticated cyberattacks on Google which the Internet giant said originated in China, are President Barack Obama’s National Security Advisor James Jones and White House cybersecurity coordinator Howard Schmidt. Read the full AFP article here.

Rockefeller Calls for Public-Private Action on Cybersecurity
Cyberattacks aren’t confined by governmental or national boundaries, and neither should cybersecurity programs, Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-W. Va.), said recently in calling on government and industry to work together to meet the rapidly rising tide of attacks on U.S. information systems. “National borders and traditional notions of security do not always apply to 21st–century threats, especially in the cybersecurity arena,” he said April 29 at the Business Software Alliance’s Cybersecurity Forum 2010 in Washington. “The idea that government alone can protect our citizens’ security within clear national borders is outdated. Therefore, to secure our country from cyberattacks we must have shared responsibility — public sector and private sector.” Read the full GCN story here.

Battling Cyber Threats Requires a Global Security Framework, Experts Say
Government and industry experts say that an international cybersecurity framework that reflects the borderless nature of the Internet is needed to combat cybercrime. “Every government must ensure that its national security policies align with global approaches and global practices,” said Robert Holleyman, president and chief executive officer of the Business Software Alliance, who spoke Thursday at the BSA Cybersecurity Forum 2010 in Washington. Read the full GCN story here.

NIST Will Coordinate National Cybersecurity Education Program
The National Institute of Standards and Technology will coordinate a nationwide cybersecurity education program recently started by the Obama administration. Commerce Secretary Gary Locke said April 29 that NIST, part of the Commerce Department, would coordinate the administration’s National Initiative for Cybersecurity Education (NICE). In that role, the institute will work with agencies to lead programs to bolster cybersecurity awareness, education and training, Locke said. Read the full FCW story here.

Photocopier Fallout: Company Notifies 409,000 of Data Breach
When Armen Keteyian first reported the story on digital copiers and their hard drives on April 19, there were no known cases of data breaches coming from copy machine hard drives. In an ironic twist, our story became the first publicly known case of a data breach from a copy machine hard drive when we purchased a copier that had once been owned by Affinity Health Plan. Because of medical privacy laws, Affinity was required to then file a breach notification to state and federal regulators and notify all of its clients and everyone who might have ever had information on Affinity copy machines, including current and former employees. Read the full CBS News story here.