Five working groups formed at the National Cyber Security Summit released initial reports that focus on delivering concrete results within a year, task force leaders said Thursday.. . .

Five working groups formed at the National Cyber Security Summit released initial reports that focus on delivering concrete results within a year, task force leaders said Thursday.

The working groups have pledged to release white papers by March 1, 2004, that outline their recommendations for securing businesses and consumers and creating more secure software. The next meeting, tentatively set for September 2004, will be the deadline for each group to deliver at least some results.

"A concern is that if we were to meet in (a year), can we show progress?" said Mary Ann Davidson, chief security officer at database maker Oracle and the co-chair of the Technical Standards and Common Criteria Task Force, one of the five working groups. "Even if we make recommendations, we should prioritize, and one of the priorities should be showing results in a year or less."

The link for this article located at CNET is no longer available.