[ISN] Cybersecurity czar concept meets resistance in Britain

[InfoSec News]

http://www.washingtontechnology.com/news/1_1/daily_news/27522-1.html

By Alice Lipowicz
Staff Writer
12/02/05

Calls from a Member of Parliament to appoint a British cybersecurity
czar are being greeted with skepticism from the U.K. information
technology industry.

Mark Pritchard, a Conservative MP for The Wrekin parliamentary
constituency, is urging the government to name a cybersecurity czar to
address the growing threat against online commerce and national
security in the United Kingdom.

"The rise of the professional hacker has serious implications for the
UK, particularly in relation to national defense," Pritchard said in a
speech [1] posted on his Web site. "I just wondered whether the
Government would consider...appointing a cybersecurity czar and having
a cybersecurity day or week, which would include the private and
public sectors."

Pritchard also noted the danger of cyberattacks against key critical
infrastructures such as energy, transport, finance, telecommunications
and aviation. "A penetration of any of those networks would be a
serious threat to national security - not least when it comes to the
potential to access Britain's 14 nuclear power stations," Pritchard
said.

Initial IT industry reaction to Pritchard's request appeared to be
negative, with the argument that the United Kingdom already has a
sufficient number of protections in place to protect the
cyberenvironment.

"As security experts said on Tuesday, there are already plenty of
organizations charged with protecting us online," stated a Dec. 1
editorial [2] in ZDNetUK, an online IT publication.

Instead of a cybersecurity czar, the newspaper calls for stronger
anti-cybercrime legislation, less red tape for reporting cybercrimes,
and more resources for cyber law enforcement as more effective
measures to strengthen cybersecurity.

[1] http://www.markpritchard.com/search/article.php?id=144
[2] http://comment.zdnet.co.uk/other/0,39020682,39239299,00.htm