Gates warned over security promise

Microsoft chairman Bill Gates has been told by a top White House adviser to keep his word on making his company's products more secure.

Richard Clarke, George Bush's cyber security advisor, told security experts at the RSA conference in San Jose that the new push on security by Microsoft "is no laughing matter".

But the audience did laugh at the mention of Microsoft's conversion to the cause of 'trustworthy computing'.

"Let's not just laugh and be cynical about that promise," he told delegates. "Let's say to Bill Gates instead: 'You are right and we are going to hold you to that.'"

He also warned companies to take security more seriously, pointing out that many of them spend less on computer security than on coffee for employees.

Clarke explained that less than 0.0025 per cent of corporate revenue is spent on IT security. "If you spend more on coffee than on IT security, then you will be hacked," he said during his keynote address. "What's more, you deserve to be hacked."

He urged the industry to get round the table and start securing the whole internet and not just "their own little piece of the network".

Clarke warned that terrorists will be able to understand security technology at least as well as the industry and government. He confirmed that the Bush administration will increase spending on information security to $4bn (£2.8bn).