Looking back fondly over 2009 which has all but finished I recall with fondness when President Obama announced back in May to appoint a White House coordinator or czar to oversee the implementation of a national cybersecurity strategy.

As they say the best laid plans and path to hell paved with good intentions or something like that. I’m probably confusing one analogy too many there. But lots of security folk have been giving their sarcastic smiles all knowingly nodding and claiming they knew it would never work.

Lets take a look over the past. There have been different incarnations of such cyber czars before, with little or no effect. Its not too dissimilar to HM the Queen. A lot of pomp and glory, a hefty pay check at the expense of taxpayers; yet little direct impact on the betterment of citizens.

The problem is that whilst ‘czar’ may sound impressive, the role doesn’t have much authority, little budget and has the near-impossible task of facing challenges at a truly global level.

In all honesty, even if the role was established, at the very most the ‘czar’ would do is ensure good education so that users run up to date anti-virus solutions with patched operating systems.

Hmmmm actually now that I’ve written this all out. I’m reading this back and it’s quite funny if you replace the word ‘czar’ with ‘CISO’ (or your company head of Security) spooky.