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By Sonya Rabbitte, 21 July 2000 00:15

NEWS The IT industry is in danger of being held accountable for security breaches such as the one suffered by Powergen according to leading industry figures. In this week's Behind the Headlines feature, Mark Roberts, director at Cap Gemini stressed that the scandal should be viewed as a disaster for the company and not a widespread ecommerce crisis. He said: "This is not about the internet or ebusiness, this is now about Powergen and the way people will see them and their customer service." Rene Carayol, chairman at ePhotomail, agreed. He said: "It's gross negligence by Powergen. We'll get a backlash against the industry, but it's nothing to do with it. It's about the procedure, practices and customer service of Powergen - and it's disgraceful. There should be accountability here, but it's not the industry, it's Powergen." Industry certifications of quality like the TrustUK kitemark launched this week were applauded by the panel, but they warned that ultimately Powergen was responsible for monitoring its own security procedures. Richard Sykes, chairman at consultancy Morgan Chambers, said internet kitemark standards are a good idea, but watchdog groups alone are not sufficient protection. He said Powergen should have been conducting routine trial hacking tests to check the reliability of its security system. Sykes said: "If something like a kitemark turns out to be good it will spread to other countries. They will all come together. There will be an ISO kitemark. These schemes help people raise confidence. But here the buck stops with Powergen." There was general consensus among the guests that Powergen had caused irreparable damage to its public image. Carayol said: "It's just not good enough. At the end of the day, if we get a really bad customer experience we vote with our feet." You can see this week's Behind The Headlines in full on the Ebusiness Security Channel (http://www.silicon.com/a38682 ).