In 2003, President Bush released his National Strategy to Secure Cyberspace, a plan that called for increased industry responsibility to better secure our nation's critical infrastructure. TechNet, the national organization of leading technology and biotechnology CEOs and senior executives, responded to this call to action by assembling a CEO Cyber Security Task Force. Comprised of top technology CEOs in the country, the mission of the task force is to promote awareness and best practices in cyber security and support public-private initiatives aimed at protecting America's information infrastructure.
TechNet's CEO Cyber Security Task Force launched an initiative in 2003 challenging CEOs to assess and improve their company's security posture. The centerpiece of this effort is the TechNet Corporate Information Security Evaluation for CEOs - an online self-assessment and educational tool to enable CEOs to quickly review their security programs. This evaluation helps CEOs determine whether their company has implemented known best practices, indicate areas of weakness, and, eventually, give them an opportunity to compare their level of preparedness to others in their industry.
TechNet's Corporate Information Security Evaluation for CEOs addresses four key issues in cyber security management: risk management evaluation, people evaluation, processes evaluation and technology evaluation. A business dependency section helps CEOs determine whether their company has a high, medium or low reliance on information technology for business continuity; this in turn, affects the final scoring. There are approximately 80 questions in the evaluation. CEOs should complete it in tandem with their CIO and/or top security officer. These questions allow companies to assess their cyber security program and identify areas of weakness and gaps relative to current best practices.
"TechNet is very pleased to announce that Chris Zannetos will co-chair our Cyber Security Task Force," said Lezlee Westine, President and CEO of TechNet. "Chris is one of the preeminent IT security leaders in the nation and brings years of knowledge and expertise to the fight to ensure greater protection of America's information infrastructure. This is a critical job and we look forward to working with Chris to better fortifying this important infrastructure."
"Because 90% of the nation's information infrastructure belongs to the private sector, it is important to our national security that every company reach a baseline of information security," said Chris Zannetos, president and CEO, Courion. "The job of CEOs and other senior executives includes assessing the risks to information systems and instituting organizational, policy and budgetary mechanisms to mitigate these risks."
TechNet has created a comprehensive assessment tool that leverages the considerable collective experience of its member companies to assist organizations in protecting their critical corporate assets while maintaining the flexibility to react to changing requirements, opportunities, and threats.
