http://www.fcw.com/geb/articles/2001/1022/web-penn-10-22-01.asp By Dibya Sarkar Oct. 22, 2001 Pennsylvania officials have launched an initiative to strengthen security and privacy policies and practices by educating state employees, hiring an ombudsman to oversee compliance and amending criminal codes to better address cybercrime. Gov. Mark Schweiker unveiled the initiative, PA Secure Online, Oct. 18. The governor's deputy press secretary, David La Torre, said it had been in the works for some time and was not precipitated by the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. "Actually, we were working on PA Secure Online well before 9/11, but 9/11 only increased the need for security online," he said. "We thought it was important at this time that everyone was on the same page regarding privacy and security policies." By next spring, the state hopes to have an ombudsman in place, a position akin to a chief privacy officer, he said. The ombudsman, who would be under the auspices of the state Department of Information Technology, would reach out to agencies and coordinate the education effort as well as ensure compliance of state policies and federal restrictions on the use, storage and access to data, he said. The state will also create a "cyber academy" to better educate state employees on detecting threats to cybersecurity and train investigators techniques for apprehending hackers. He said the state would use experts from within state government as well as from across the country to train employees at workshops and seminars. La Torre said the proposed ombudsman and cyber academy would not require new legislation and would have minimal financial impact. But amending the criminal code would require new laws to better clarify language in dealing with such computer crimes as cyberstalking and hacking. The state also wants to make sure that the law is clear on who has jurisdictional authority on a cybercrime, an issue many states are grappling with, he said. "We want to make sure everything is clear and concise so [authorities] have a bead on the person who is committing the cybercrime," La Torre said. - ISN is currently hosted by Attrition.org To unsubscribe email majordomoat_private with 'unsubscribe isn' in the BODY of the mail.
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