FC: ICANN tries to preserve Net-stability against terrorist attacks

[Declan McCullagh <declan () well com>]

Politech archive on ICANN:
http://www.politechbot.com/cgi-bin/politech.cgi?name=icann

ICANN meets next in Marina del Rey, California from November 13 to 15.

-Declan

*******

From: "Andy Duff" <andy.duff () new net>
To: <declan () well com>
Subject: ICANN's interest in Internet security
Date: Fri, 28 Sep 2001 17:17:31 +0100

Declan

Given your penchant for highlighting "international institutions" who have
suddenly become guardians of national security following the events of
earlier this month, you might be interested in developments at ICANN, the
body set up to coordinate the central functions of the Internet including
the DNS (Domain Name System). The ICANN staff have decided that "the
November ICANN meetings will focus on stability and security of the
Internet's naming and addressing systems and of their operational
implementation globally," pushing all other issues off the agenda.

This has caused some consternation among those who follow the sometimes
bizarre world of ICANN; for comment, you can go to www.icannwatch.org, who
consistently write on the unrepresentative and autocratic nature of some of
the actions of the ICANN staff. An amusing post today has an anonymous song
higlighting some of ICANN's woes -
http://www.icannwatch.org/article.php?sid=390&mode=&order=0 - with the
fairly sensible line "the network hums along without you and me."

 From the "Preliminary announcement on the ICANN meetings" -

--starts--
[...]given ICANN's global responsibilities for the stability of the
Internet's naming and addressing systems and under the new circumstances
facing the international community, it would be irresponsible for ICANN not
to conduct an in depth assessment of the robustness and security of these
systems, and to take steps, if necessary, to strengthen the Internet in
these regards. These are urgent matters and of worldwide importance.

The Internet is global in reach, as are the threats of terrorism. The events
of 11 September offered a stark and tragic reminder of the incalculable
importance of a reliable and secure naming and addressing system to support
emergency response, personal and other communications, and information
sharing. E-mail, instant messaging, and the web, for example, all played
essential roles.
--ends--

Full text - http://www.icann.org/announcements/announcement-26sep01.htm

and for a feel on how it is being reported so far, this from an Internetnews
article

--starts--
The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbes is tabling many of
its current projects to work on issues that affect the Internet's security
and stability, officials said Thursday.[...]

Richard Pethia, director of Carnegie Mellon University's CERT Center, said
that the current rash of Internet worms, like the Code Red and Nimda,
underscore the vulnerabilities of the Internet.

"Problems such as the Nimda worm will occur again, and attack technology
will evolve to support attacks that are even more virulent and damaging,"
Pethia said. "Our current solutions are not keeping pace with the increased
strength and speed of attacks; our information infrastructures are at risk.
Solutions are not simple, but must be pursued aggressively to allow us to
keep our information infrastructures operating at acceptable levels of
risk."

While the examples he was talking about were script viruses, Pethia said the
Internet community as a whole, from the governments and organizations down
to the individual would need to re-evaluate and educate themselves on
security issues.

"Additional government support for research, development, and education in
computer and network security would have a positive effect on the overall
security of the Internet," he concluded.
--ends--

Full text - http://www.internetnews.com/bus-news/article/0,,3_893101,00.html

Cheerfully yours

Andy Duff
New.net




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