Human Firewall launches campaign
- By Dan Caterinicchia, Dan Caterinicchia
- Oct 02, 2001
To help managers and employees improve the protection of critical information,
a consortium of government, industry and nonprofit organizations on Oct.
1 announced the launch of an international educational campaign to raise
the awareness of information security.
"The Human Firewall campaign was developed to help people recognize
how important human and policy issues are to successfully defending information
assets from unauthorized use or abuse," Doug Erwin, chief executive officer
of PentaSafe Security Technologies and acting chairman for the council,
said in a release.
"In the past, we have relied primarily on technology as the first line
of defense," Erwin said, "but it's time to broaden our view of information
security to include the people who use technology...and the policies surrounding
that use in order to effectively guard our companies against hackers, cyber-terrorists
or even disgruntled employees."
The Human Firewall Council represents a melting pot of public, private
and nonprofit organizations. In addition to Erwin, charter members in the
United States include:
* Brett Hovington, national coordinator for the FBI's Infragard Group.
* Mike Kelly, partner, Ernst & Young's security consulting divisi
*
Steve Hunt, vice president and research leader, Giga Information Group.
* Charles Wood, an independent information security consultant and author
of "Information Security Policies Made Easy."
* Steve Katz, chief security officer, Merrill Lynch and Company Inc.
As part of the educational campaign, the group launched a Web site (www.humanfirewall.org), which features a manifesto that visitors are encouraged
to read and sign to show their commitment to raising security awareness
in their organizations.
Wood, the manifesto's author, said the increasing severity of information
security problems "clearly indicates that the prevailing emphasis on technological
solutions is not working."
The manifesto suggests that "management must adopt a more integrated
approach which recognizes the pivotal role played by people such as employees,
contractors, consultants, temporaries, volunteers, strategic partners, outsourcing
firm staff and others."
Members of the council will give a keynote presentation at the Computer
Security Institute's annual conference Oct. 31, where they will present
a blueprint to help organizations take the first steps in creating a successful
awareness program.
Sen. Robert Bennett (R-Utah), an information security awareness advocate,
has been invited to give the opening remarks to the presentation.