15 February 2000
(Says it must remain open, but has to become more secure) (850) By Wendy S. Ross and Stephanie Cupp Washington File White House Correspondents Washington -- President Clinton met February 15 at the White House with executives of major e-commerce companies, computer security experts, reformed hackers, officials of civil liberties organizations, and members of his Cabinet to discuss ways the U.S. government and private industry can work together to make the Internet less vulnerable to hackers. "The disruptions at several websites last week highlight how important the Internet has become to our whole way of life in America, and how vulnerabilities at one place on the Net can create risks for all," Clinton told those at the meeting. Hackers last week scrambled traffic on several prominent e-commerce Web cites including Amazon.com, Yahoo! and eBay interrupting their service to customers. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has launched a criminal investigation into the matter. Clinton told the gathering that it is important that the Internet remain "open and free." But at the same time, he said, computer networks must be made "more secure and resilient, and we have to do more to protect privacy and civil liberties. And we're here to work together." Peter Solvik, the senior vice president and chief information officer of CISCO Systems, said "the events of last week show that everyone -- Internet users, Internet companies, and government -- need to work together to strengthen Internet security." He said the executives represented at the meeting have joined with leaders of other major Internet and information technology companies, as well as with officials of industry trade associations to work together on this issue. "We're committed to increasing the security of the Internet by sharing information on cyber attacks, vulnerabilities, countermeasures, and best practices as a concrete way of improving security of the Internet," Solvik said. "We look to government," he said, "to play an important role by coordinating this activity, ensuring its own systems are secure, and continuing to support important Research and Development (R&D) efforts." Following the hour-long meeting, Clinton's Chief of Staff John Podesta said "many of the people in the room commented on the fact that many tools were out there to deal with security threats but many of the tools were not being used. We need to be more proactive." Secondly, he said, the federal government must serve as a role model. Participants in the meeting, he said, supported Clinton's budget initiative of over $2 billion to invest in enhancing Internet security, increasing R&D, creating an institute to work in partnership with the private sector to do more research and development on the security issues. And finally, he said, "there was a good deal of discussion that this is a global issue, a global network, a global problem. It can't be resolved simply by efforts by the United States government, or even by the United States private sector. We need to work in partnership to enhance security, but we need to work around the world on solutions that, as the global information infrastructure is interconnected, will have a reach beyond our borders." Commerce Secretary William Daley said "Our information economy is strong, and it is resilient. But last week's incidents were really a wake-up call for all of us" to make sure that our systems are adequately protected. He pointed out that the Department of Commerce has initiated a Partnership for Critical Infrastructure Security with the private sector. Officials of some 80 companies from different sectors of the economy met with Commerce Department officials in December to discuss these issues, he said, and will meet again February 22 "to try to develop mechanisms by which we can share information and move forward" in a multisector approach. "It is not about the government regulating this or taking steps to take actions that would at all impede the Internet because, of course, it is the dynamic engine that is driving our economy today, and we must keep that open," he said. Harris Miller, President of the Information Technology Association of America, said the meeting with Clinton had been "very, very positive." "We provided to the President and the other U.S. government officials who were present, a statement, which has been endorsed by 38 companies just initially and 10 high-tech trade associations, committing to sharing information and working together through a mechanism, particularly to focus on cyberattacks, vulnerabilities, countermeasures, and best information security practices," Miller said. "Participation in this mechanism will be voluntary, industry-led, and maybe virtual." "We also discussed with the President the important global nature of this challenge and the need to move forward in looking at this issue on a global basis," Miller said. Maynard Webb, President of eBay Technologies said that "There is no silver bullet for what we're going after. It's a difficult problem, but when we work together, we can solve it." (The Washington File is a product of the Office of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: usinfo.state.gov)