IT security chiefs from a group of FTSE 100 companies want
to form a user group to collaborate on IT security standards and
bring their various approaches into a single
framework.
Three weeks ago, Computer Weekly first revealed that IT leaders
from 10 organisations, including ICI, Royal Mail, BP, financial
institutes and the Office of the E-Envoy, had been working on
approaches to IT security around the theme of boundaryless
networking, or "deperimeterisation". Now group members want to
bring in others to share the work and spread the message.
The aim is to resolve the problem of securing a network while
supporting greater openness with partners and customers.
Paul Simmonds, global information security director at ICI, said
each organisation in the group was working on similar ideas, but
the approaches and terminology differed. "We have all got to sit
down and agree a common framework," he said.
David Lacey, director of security and risk management technology,
services and innovation at Royal Mail, said, "It will be good for
us to share our ideas as there are a lot of people who do not have
the skills to develop IT security."
Lacey, who collaborated with the Department of Trade & Industry
to set up the BS7799 security user group, wants to open up the
group to more organisations. "We are looking to form a group with
no joining fee," he said.
If there is no charge to join, everyone will be expected to
contribute to the security model, he added.
Daniel Dresner, standards manager at the National Computer Centre,
said, "The NCC would be eager to get involved at the early stages
and facilitate the collaboration of its 1,000 member organisations.
There is an ideal opportunity for supplier bodies to do
likewise."
However, Peter Sommer, head of computer security research at the
London School of Economics, was concerned that the group could end
up devising another BS7799 security standard, which itself began as
a collaboration between the DTI and business.
FTSE firms in security quest offer different approaches to
'deperimeterisation >>