Nearly a dozen top technology luminaries are lending their star power to a new think-tank that will look for ways to elevate the status of chief security officers in the private sector, a move that they say will go a long way toward improving Internet security.

The Global Council of Chief Security Officers was formed by former White House cybersecurity adviser Howard Schmidt, who said it helps fulfill a promise he made after leaving the Bush administration earlier this year to make Internet security a top issue in the business community.