US report seeks stricter regulation of software.

(From Canberra Times)

Certification for programmers, better education and even new laws are needed to improve software security, according to a report published last Thursday by a US ''coalition'' of corporate-security experts, academic researchers and government agencies. The report - the third of five expected to be published in March and April by the National Cyber Security Partnership - proposes changes in education, software development and patching as well as incentives to persuade software makers to improve the security of their wares. The broad group of initiatives was needed to help companies improve the quality of their software, said Scott Charney, Microsoft's chief security strategist and co-chairman of the Security Across the Software Development Life Cycle Task Force. …