Two and a half years after former Director of National Intelligence Mike McConnell called for a “dot-secure” network, a Silicon Valley startup with $9.6 million in funding has announced plans to launch one. From the description, this isn’t intended to be a wholly secure network, since that’s a promise no one can fulfill. Instead, it’s intended to link companies that take security seriously. At a minimum, the shared standards and security consciousness should allow much better forensics and audits of network behavior, even when the behavior crosses organizational and technical firewalls. In fact, I assume the $9.6 million will be spent mainly on rule-writing and rule-enforcement.
If ever there were a startup that lawyers and accountants could have dreamed up, this is it. I hope that doesn’t guarantee its failure.