Swedish strategy to secure the Internet infrastructure - PTS-ER-2005:7

15/02/2005

The National Post and Telecom Agency (PTS) was assigned by the Government in September 2004 to propose a strategy to improve the security of the Internet in Sweden, among other things regarding disruptions within the domain name system, and to enhance protection within critical Internet functions against manipulated information. When working with this assignment PTS will wherever possible make use of work that has already been conducted within the field. PTS shall, within the framework of this assignment, collaborate with the relevant authorities, businesses, organisations, committees and others affected within the field in order to attain broad-based support for its proposals, and a reference group will be convened to provide views on the strategy.

A first preliminary report with proposals for objectives and orientation of the strategy was reported on 29 October 2004. This report is the final report on the assignment.

The objective of the strategy is that it should contribute towards providing longterm safeguards for critical functions within the Internet infrastructure that, in the event of a failure or collapse, may cause extensive disruption or interruption that impedes or prevents the use of the Internet for large groups of individual users or for important companies, authorities and organisations.

In order to achieve a more secure Internet in Sweden, it is strategically important for the government to be able to influence requirements and monitor requirements imposed on providers of those functions that are vital for the function of the Internet. It is also important to achieve greater security for the two most critical functions for the Internet to operate, namely the domain name system (DNS) and the exchange of traffic between operators. Besides this work, it is important to plan for any serious disruptions and disasters.

In order to achieve a more secure Internet, it is also important to enhance the level of user knowledge and awareness about security on the Internet. Awareness is a first step towards establishing a change of attitude and culture in society regarding user protection of their environment and their behaviour when using the Internet.

In order to achieve a more secure Internet, it is also important that the preconditions exist for coordinated Swedish action within international fora in the field of Internet security. National and international collaboration are also important to be able to deal with future IT incidents.

It is also important to continue the ongoing work to enhance resistance to disruptions that affect the physical parts of the Internet infrastructure. The investments implemented by the government have resulted in many of the most vital parts of the Internet infrastructure having good physical protection. Finally, it is important that coordinated initiatives are conducted on the part of the government regarding research within information security with reference to the Internet in order to achieve the optimum return on the resources invested.