An influential group of senior cyber-security leaders have joined forces by forming the Global Council of CSOs (Chief Security Officers). The group is dedicated to enhancing cyber security and will bring together expertise from academic, corporate and government backgrounds, forming a think tank to encourage dialogue and action that will meet the new challenges of online security.

eBay's Howard Schmidt, former White House cyber-security advisor, is a founding member of the Council. "The role of the Chief Security Officer is relatively new in business and government, and yet it has quickly become one of the most critical positions of our time," said Schmidt.

Other charter council members are: Bill Boni of Motorola, Vint Cerf of MCI, Scott Charney of Microsoft, Dave Cullinane of Washington Mutual, Mary Ann Davidson of Oracle, Whit Diffie of Sun Microsystems, Steve Katz formerly of Citigroup, Rhonda MacLean of Bank of America, and Will Pelgrin of the New York State Office of Cyber Security and Critical Infrastructure. While the council is starting out with members from the United States, they will be adding select international experts to join in the future.

Carnegie Mellon University's newly formed Cyber Lab, a comprehensive research and education center led by Pradeep K. Khosla and Rich Pethia, will act as the Council's Executive Secretariat.

http://www.csocouncil.org