Baltimore boss calls for 'hands off' security policy

Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) has become an accepted Internet standard, but the UK government must provide a strong legislative framework for information security, without being seen to interfere with commerce.

That's according to Fran Rooney, CEO of Baltimore Technologies. In a video interview with Silicon.com, Rooney said: "I think the UK government has gone through a number of transitions - they were working on a policy a number of years ago but with the change in government they've changed that policy.

"I think now they're starting to understand now that seamless, non-fussy, non-interfering legislation is the way forward. We will see across Europe a common purpose coming out from the council of Ministers in Brussels."

Rooney praised the Irish government for its approach. "They're making it easy for businesses to adopt PKI," he said. "Beyond that it's up to the banks, to the corporations and to government departments to roll out their own infrastructure."

PKI has faced criticism in the past for a lack of maturity. But according to Rooney, the technology is now ready to thrive. "I think we've seen a lot of maturity developing in the last 12 months. We're now seeing many organisations agree to make investments. A number of our customers have spent well over a million dollars with us in terms of putting the infrastructure in place.

"I think some organisations are still grappling with the level of investment that's needed... but it's about return on investment. Once organisations realise how effective that can be, we'll see a lot of take up in the next 12 months."

You can watch the full interview with Fran Rooney in the Ebusiness Security Channel (http://www.silicon.com/a36906 ).