Coalition offers cybersecurity tools

A coalition of public- and private-sector organizations last week released guidelines to help nongovernmental organizations manage IT security issues.

The task force called for voluntary adoption of the guidelines by companies, nonprofits and educational institutions.

However, regulatory enforcement cannot be ruled out, said Orson Swindle, commissioner of the Federal Trade Commission.

Online privacy policies have been widely adopted without regulatory mandates, he said. "The result is we are farther down the road," than if regulation had been the first step.