US cybercrime czar warns of high-tech warfare

The US government's cybercrime czar is urging companies to demand more secure software from Microsoft to prevent major IT catastrophes - and to ensure enemies of the US find it harder to launch high-tech attacks against the country.

Speaking at the annual RSA Conference in San Jose California, Richard Clarke, President Bush's cyber security chief, said software vendors should try harder to make their technology more secure to protect businesses from a major infrastructure meltdown.

User organisations should hold Bill Gates personally responsible for the software he sells.

"Go to Bill Gates and tell him you want more secure products and hold him to it. Let's go and tell him we are going to stop buying products unless they are 100 per cent secure," Clarke said in his keynote address.

He also raised the spectre of global information warfare, and added that the industry must act before it's too late.

He said: "Our enemies are well versed in technology and they are going to use it in a war against us... The aviation industry was ignoring the security loopholes before they got hit. We are aware of the vulnerabilities and we must act before our enemies find them... If the IT industry will continue to shift the responsibility, we will be hit very soon."

He also said everyone must work together to improve security: "We all know the internet is faulty because it wasn't built for the things it's being used today, but governments, businesses, individuals must all strive to improve its security."

He concluded his speech by saying it's time to reassess how much connectivity people need in their lives.

"We need to re-think this unwritten rule that everything on the internet is automatically connected to every single place on the planet," he said.