At a White House event today, the Software & Information Industry Association (SIIA) expressed a commitment to working with the Administration to address the growing dangers posed by botnets. SIIA is part of a multi-industry group that today announced its Principles for Voluntary Efforts to Reduce the Impact of Botnets in Cyberspace. SIIA President Ken Wasch and representatives of other industry groups were joined by Cybersecurity Coordinator Howard Schmidt, Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano, other administration officials and industry leaders including Michael DeCeasare CEO of McAfee.
As the leading organization representing software and digital media companies, SIIA and its members are at the forefront of the fight against botnets and other forms of Internet security threats. For example, McAfee provides a suite of tools for consumers and businesses to keep their systems free of infections and to remove malware and botnets from their infected systems. And Google recently launched a notification effort for users of computers and routers infected with the DNSChanger malware.
SIIA is committed to addressing botnet security threats by working collaboratively with the government and by promoting the work of our members. It is vital that industry and government work together to ensure that public policy encourages private sector innovation and flexibility. After all, it is the products and tools produced by companies such as McAfee and Google that are empowering consumers and businesses to fight Internet security threats.
To that aim, SIIA is part of the Industry Botnet Group (“IBG”), which was formed earlier this year to collaborate on and encourage voluntary efforts to reduce the effectiveness of botnets. Botnets infect computers, threatening the trust and confidence of online users and undermining the efficiencies and economic growth spurred by the Internet. The IBG’s principles call on Internet participants to coordinate and communicate with each other and voluntarily work to fight the effectiveness of botnets across the botnet lifecycle. More information is available at www.industrybotnetgroup.org.
Ken Wasch is President of SIIA.