General Advice on good function and technical security - 18 december 2006

18/12/2006

The National Post and Telecom Agency (PTS) intends to issue General Advice regarding the measures that PTS considers it is important for providers of public communications networks and public communications services to implement in order to fulfil reasonable requirements regarding good function and technical security and also regarding sustainability and accessibility in the case of extraordinary events (Chapter 5, Section 6a of the Electronic Communications Act (EkomL)).

The General Advice contains recommendations on security work, in the form of work with risk analyses and risk management, as well as planning for and following up interruptions and disturbances. Providers should regularly conduct risk analyses, i.e. identify threats to the operation as well as assess the probability of threats occurring and their impact for the operation should they materialise. The risks are identified by an overall assessment of probability and impact. Providers should therefore decide how to handle the risks that are identified within the operation. This may involve having to make investments in the networks or implementing maintenance work. If an interruption or disruption occurs, the provider should also have made plans for any measures that should be implemented, for example have routines to enable the provider to allocate additional staff in order to overcome the interruption. Following the occurrence of an interruption or disturbance, the provider should follow up the event and take it into account when planning and developing infrastructure.

The proposed General Advice has been circulated for consultation to those providers who have been notified to PTS, the relevant authorities and organisations. The consultation bodies and parties may submit views up to and including 31 January 2007.