Feds Pitch Cyber-Fence :: Say PKI and Biometrics Key

Feds Pitch Cyber-Fence

Most of the explicit cyber-security recommendations targeted at large enterprises in the forthcoming national strategy to secure cyberspace reflect best practices that are typically already in place wherever feasible and expedient. However, the strategy, scheduled for release Sept. 18, includes detailed discussions of much more substantive changes for securing enterprise networking, lighting the way for future official positions and, possibly, mandates.

While the language of the recommendations is mild and mostly unsurprising, the discussion of other steps enterprises should take to secure systems is stark in contrast. The document states that to facilitate network integrity, reliability, availability and confidentiality, enterprises should include PKI (public-key infrastructure) using smart cards, secure tokens, biometrics or a combination of these measures in authentication procedures. In addition, it raises questions for resolution in future releases of the strategy, such as how often large enterprises should have cyber-security audits performed by outside auditors.