Internet security gets checkup / Tech leaders, feds take new look at plan

Internet security gets checkup / Tech leaders, feds take new look at plan:

Carrie Kirby, Chronicle Staff Writer

Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge will meet today with Silicon Valley leaders to assess how much progress has been made in protecting the nation's computer networks and what steps still need to be taken.

The Santa Clara meeting is a follow-up to the Bush administration's National Strategy to Secure Cyberspace, a plan that was criticized by some security experts as too light-handed.

That plan, released last year, called for the government and the private sector to work together to secure the Internet and the growing infrastructure, like power plants and 911 systems, linked to it. These systems are at risk from the growing plague of Internet worms and hackers.

But the strategy did not include any strict rules or mandates.

Today, government and industry representatives will wrangle more concrete steps for protecting the infrastructure, said Howard Schmidt, formerly the White House cyber-security adviser. Schmidt is co-chairing one of five committees of tech industry representatives."