After Sept. 11, 2001, cybersecurity czar Richard Clarke crisscrossed the country berating technology companies for failing to do enough to shore up the Net against potential terrorist attacks. In unveiling a highly anticipated White House cybersecurity proposal on Wednesday, however, . . .

After Sept. 11, 2001, cybersecurity czar Richard Clarke crisscrossed the country berating technology companies for failing to do enough to shore up the Net against potential terrorist attacks. In unveiling a highly anticipated White House cybersecurity proposal on Wednesday, however, Clarke left his firebrand at home. Rather than target specific industry segments and require that they secure themselves by recommending tough new laws and regulations, the administration's plan recommends that industry and individuals simply take greater care.

"It has no teeth," said Steven Kirschbaum, CEO of Secure Information Systems, a small Fremont, Calif.-based security consulting firm. "It has no enforcement. The first rule of having any security policy is you have to have enforcement. Without it, it's just a nice press release."

Nearly a year after President Bush sent Clarke out to stump for tougher security, experts say little has been done to address many of the fundamental causes that lead to persistent vulnerabilities that expose Net users to myriad threats, from Web site defacements to viruses to denial of service attacks.

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