On Wednesday morning at the WCIT 2006, the goal was to tug at our heart strings, but in later sessions the goal was to make your knees quake with fear. Joe McGrath, CEO of Unisys stepped up to give a new vision of global network security needed to keep the global economy humming along.

After a video about the interdependence of the world economy entitled "A Slender Thread," the fear stats really started flying. While I do believe that we have to focus on security in a holistic way, I don't believe creating a totally secure anything is possible. Chalk it up to human ingenuity, but there will always be a way around security.

However, aside from the fears about our port system's vulnerabilities to terrorist attack, McGrath had an important message for corporate America. He called for international security and authentication standards that can be applied across borders and in a variety of ways. He pointed to Malaysia, a country that has issued smart cards to its citizens that act as identifications, e-wallets, a storehouse for health records and passports.

A Malaysian government official on the panel later said that adding all that functionality was key to gaining the trust of Malaysia's citizens and in getting them to use the card.

I can see that happening in America. Most folks cringe at the idea of a government issued ID with any sort of authentication in it, but if you allowed us to swipe it though parking meters and vending machines, then our concerns about privacy and government surveillance would be lessened.

Ret. Admiral Bobby Inman, a former deputy director of the CIA and former head of the National Security Agency, said such government issued standards-based identification was necessary, but he thought it would take another attack before privacy concerns among the citizenry are wiped out. For those of you envisioning black helicopters staging another attack just to get a government issued ID card out there, just stop reading.

In this instance panelists, including McGrath believe that governments are just the place to jumpstart such a security and authentication standard. The goal according to McGrath would be the ability to track and trace goods and assets, protect information and IT systems and identify people anywhere in the world.

Before privacy folks get up in arms, there is a precedent for such knowledge. Before the majority of the population lived in large urban centers knowledge about who everyone was, gossip about their personal lives and a mistrust of strangers was commonplace. Perhaps a security standard is just one more way to recreate the actual feel of a global village. — Stacey Higginbotham

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