Two US Government contractors and the National Institute of Science and Technology have released a white paper, “Statement of Needed Internet Capability,” detailing possible alternatives and considerations for a Trust Anchor Repository (TAR) to support DNSSEC deployment. Importantly, the document highlights policy choices, and raises interesting questions about a Global TAR as a solution for helping secure the DNS and the role of national security interests.
GigaNet Workshop on Global Internet Governance
Initiated in spring 2006 in conjunction with the UN Internet Governance Forum, the Global Internet Governance Academic Network (GigaNet) is hosting several events this year, including an upcoming international workshop on
“Global Internet Governance: An Interdisciplinary Research Field in Construction” in Paris, 23 June 2008, from 08:30 to 13:30, concurrent with the ICANN-Paris meeting. [invitation-fr] [invitation-en]
The purpose of the workshop, the first of its sort, is to allow scholars involved in Internet Governance related research to describe their ongoing research projects to other scholars in the field, in order to share ideas, forge possible collaborations, and identify emerging research themes in the field. Scholars from various academic disciplines and all regions of the world are expected to contribute to this reflexive exercise, with the long-term objective of collectively building this interdisciplinary research field.
OECD releases Economics of Malware study co-authored by van Eeten
The OCED has officially released the "Economics Of Malware: Security Decisions, Incentives and Externalities" a study co-authored by IGP Scientific Committee member Michel van Eeten and Johannes Bauer. From the paper: Malicious software, or malware for short, has become a critical security threat to all who rely on the Internet...
.ORG pushes forward with DNSSEC
In early April, Public Interest Registry (PIR) submitted a service proposal announcing its intention to begin offering secure DNS extensions in the 4th quarter of 2008, and seeking to amend its registry contract with ICANN. If approved by ICANN, .ORG would likely be the Internet’s first secure production gTLD zone. One interesting wrinkle is PIR's proposed language regarding data escrow of DNSSEC related data, specifically key material. PIR's request is another testament to the strength of a distributed, and not centralized, approach to DNSSEC.
Call For Papers: Third GigaNet Annual Symposium
Call For Papers: Third GigaNet Annual Symposium
2 December, 2008
Hyderabad International Conference Center (HICC)
Hyderabad, India
Call For Papers [pdf] [html]
The Global Internet Governance Academic Network (GigaNet) is a scholarly community that promotes the development of Internet governance as a recognized, interdisciplinary field of study and facilitates informed dialogue on policy issues and related matters between scholars and governments, international organizations, the private sector, and civil society.
Each year, GigaNet organizes a one-day research symposium in conjunction with the United Nations Internet Governance Forum (IGF) and in the same premises. After the first two editions in Athens, Greece (October 2006) and Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (November 2007), the third GigaNet Annual Symposium will be held on December 2, 2008, in Hyderabad, India, the day before the 3rd IGF meeting. Attendance at the Symposium will be open to all and free of charge. The Symposium will be at the same location as the IGF and registration with the UN as an IGF participant may be necessary to gain entry to the building. This is a call for papers from scholars interested in presenting an original research paper at the conference.
Global Service Provider Identity (SPID): Licensing the Internet?
A briefing last month to House and Senate members and staff of the Homeland Security Committee by VeriSign’s Vice President for Regulatory Affairs and Standards, the recent chair of the NRC’s Committee on Improving Cybersecurity Research in the US, and a former Chief Scientist of the FCC, raises some interesting questions and concerns about governance, competition policy, and civil liberties. In the joint presentation on international and domestic defenses against cyber attacks and supporting documents, VeriSign’s Tony Rutkowski argued that, “the widespread deployment of wireless platforms, Internet Protocol networks, and application-based services – combined with a government switch from common carrier to information services regulation by imposing only minimal public network service mandates – has produced some significant “cybersecurity” vulnerabilities.” According to Rutkowski, the absence of a built-in trust mechanism across the many providers that make up the communications network infrastructure worldwide is the core problem. In light of this, he said Congress should require the FCC, FTC and other agencies to institute a universal identity through a global Trusted Service Provider or SPID (Service Profile IDentifier) system.
One Internet, two modes of governance
On Monday the NTIA released the agenda for the upcoming public meeting in Washington DC covering the Mid-term Review of the JPA between DoC and ICANN. And yesterday, in Geneva, the Internet Governance Forum opened its first preparatory meeting for the upcoming Forum in Hyderabad, India from December 3-6. It’s too early to draw conclusions, but the structure of the meetings suggests two distinct operational modes of Internet governance.
Internet security scholar joins IGP Scientific Committee
The Internet Governance Project welcomes Dr. Michel J.G. van Eeten as a new member of its Scientific Committee. Dr. van Eeten joins the IGP from Delft University of Technology, the Netherlands, where he is an Associate Professor on the Faculty of Technology, Policy and Management. In addition to his responsibilities...
Eeny, meeny, miny, moe. Will VeriSign control the root?
Just who will be "it" and control the secure DNS root took another turn this week at ICANN-Delhi, when VeriSign unexpectedly announced it would implement a DNSSEC test bed for the root zone either later this year or the beginning of next year. In a discussion that covered root zone management process improvement and DNSSEC test bed implementation, VeriSign's Ken Silva acknowledged that the current process is somewhat of a "black box." The 20+ year telecommunications and security industry exec and former executive technical director at the NSA, cited their current role as publisher of the root zone and its need to be familiar with all the anticipated components that will go into future root zone database management as reason for the initiative.
Is Whois Toast? SSAC pushes ICANN toward new IETF standard
The Security and Stability Advisory Committee (SSAC) has added a new wrinkle to the ongoing domain name Whois saga. In a document released late last week, it identified some well known and other less talked about problems with the Whois protocol and it called on ICANN and its community to pursue a more holistic approach involving policy recommendations. Interestingly, it also called for consideration of a new “formal directory service for the Internet” standard to serve domain name interests.
