General Colin Powell keynote ... Fortify on Demand ... The U.S. cyber security initiative ... Developing secure components

In May, General Colin Powell (Retired) delivered the keynote address, "Leadership in Times of Great Change," at the Fortify Executive Summit in Washington, D.C. The former secretary of state's opinions on Rush Limbaugh and the state of the Republican Party during the event's Q & A portion generated quite a bit of press coverage.

In addition, we are pleased to announce the launch of Fortify on Demand, a set of hosted Security-as-a-Service (SaaS) solutions that allows organizations to test and score software vulnerabilities and delivers comprehensive reports with a clear-cut rating system.

Don't miss this month's feature article about the U.S. cyber security initiative and how it will impact government and industry alike. Gregory Garcia, the nation's first presidentially appointed assistant secretary for cyber security and communications for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security from 2006 to 2008, discusses the importance of public/private collaboration to develop more secure cyber defenses.

If you've ever wondered whether your organization should spend more time on training developers to think like hackers or on writing secure code, read this issue's Best Advice column to see what your peers think. In this issue, one of our readers needs advice on ways to create secure components for internally developed software. Do you have any suggestions? Please share your thoughts with us on best practices.

Finally, let us know how successful we are at including articles relevant to you by taking a one-minute reader survey.

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The U.S. Cyber Security Initiative

Gregory Garcia talks about public and private sector collaboration

by Barbara Morris, Editor, Federal Secure Software Advisory

President Obama's recent announcement of a government cyber security initiative, including the appointment of a cyber security czar reporting directly to the president, comes in the wake of increasing threats to U.S. assets. As part of the initiative, the president has promised that the U.S. government will work with the private sector to continue implementing the comprehensive cyber security policy begun in January 2008; however, the implementation is at least five years on the horizon, depending on budget appropriations and implementation.

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