Computer security in focus

As George Bush makes national security the watchword of his presidency, some Silicon Valley leaders worry cybersecurity seems to have slipped off the administration’s radar screen. Implementation of a highly touted “national strategy to secure cyberspace” has been delayed almost a year. Billions of dollars intended for cybersecurity programs — to protect everything from federal networks to home computer users from everyone from adolescent hackers to cyberterrorists — have not been spent. Two presidential advisers for cybersecurity have left the government, one after only two months. Today, a group of lobbyists, business leaders, elected representatives and security experts hope to refocus the administration’s attention on the risks of vulnerable computer systems at a “National Cyber Security Summit” in Silicon Valley. Among those expected to be listening at the Santa Clara Marriott are Homeland Security chief Tom Ridge and Robert Liscouski, the Department of Homeland Security’s assistant secretary of infrastructure protection. Full Story