NIST to offer workshops on security issues
State Department officials today released a series of reports that outline for worldwide travelers potential Year 2000 problems in foreign nations, but critics say the reports lack detail.
A government and industry advisory group today took the first steps to develop the metrics for a series of workshops to help agencies and companies deal with the complexity of protecting their computer systems and organizations.
The Computer System Security and Privacy Advisory Board, a group at the National Institute of Standards and Technology, plans to design the focus and format of the workshops over the next few months.
Concepts for the workshops range from measuring the progress of an organization's security measures to measuring the return on investment for specific security practices and products to provide a business case to administrators.
The first workshops will be based on subjects that everyone agrees on are needed most, and the board will develop issues that can be addressed in the future, said Fran Nielsen, a member of NIST's Computer Security Division who is heading the workshop development effort.
The board has been working on the idea of metrics workshops for government and industry security professionals since NIST director Ray Kammer encouraged them last year. The first workshop is planned to be held by mid-2000.
NEXT STORY: Agenda