04-17-09: Hispanic IT Executives encourage President Obama, the US Government, Corporations and Academia, to maintain a continued emphasis on protecting information and our critical infrastructure.
DETROIT- After recent communications regarding several breaches of personal and sensitive information and cyber attacks, the Hispanic IT Executive Council’s leadership (HITEC) calls upon corporate, non-profit and government leaders to continue to focus on increasing measures to protect America's information.
"Personal and sensitive information is being compromised on a regular basis,” commented David Olivencia, HITEC President. “Systemic security issues are allowing vulnerabilities such as botnets, phishing and other forms of malware to potentially threaten the government, corporations and especially, consumers. Additionally, cyber warfare could be a future battleground area and we want to encourage our country to strengthen its defensive and offensive security capabilities. As Information Technology executives, we are concerned with the number of instances of corporate and state-wide sponsored cyber attacks. We understand the impact of these actions when the attacks occur on government and critical infrastructure systems in the United States, Great Britain, Germany, Australia, New Zealand, Estonia, Georgia and Kyrgystan."
Bob West, CEO of Echelon One and a member of the HITEC Advisory Board states, "We are supportive of President Obama’s plans to establish a national cyber advisor position, reporting directly to him. This is a great starting point and it is critical that the government undertake an extremely focused effort to ensure that computer systems in both the public and private sectors are protected consistently. This will require collaboration not just within the United States but also at a global level. This vision aligns with the recommendations made by the CSIS Commission on Cybersecurity for the 44th Presidency," West continued. "Business transactions will be directed to organizations that can deliver transparency through the combination of technology, policy, and leadership."
HITEC recommends organizations thoroughly review their sensitive information and make the necessary investments to ensure their data continues to remain secure. HITEC also recommends federal, state and local legislatures increase the penalties for entities that comprise personal and sensitive information. Lastly, HITEC offers access to their membership base to strengthen the leadership teams of organizations and the federal government. The members of HITEC are not only phenomenal leaders in the IT industry but also have a strong knowledge of the issues surrounding security, identity management, risk, compliance and organizational change; helping to ensure information is secure and breaches do not occur.
About the Hispanic Executive IT Council:
HITEC (Hispanic IT Executive Council) was founded by senior Hispanic IT executives who have built outstanding careers in information technology but realized that there are far too few Hispanics in the IT leadership role. With a strong desire and passion to make an impact within the Hispanic IT community by helping others reach the highest levels, HITEC was formed in late 2006. These national leaders include executives leading Fortune 500 corporations on both U.S. and global initiatives while others lead some of the largest Hispanic owned IT firms in the United States. For
more information about the HITEC organization, visit www.hitecglobal.org.