Kroes warns against internet security complacency

Neelie Kroes: We must not take internet reliability for granted

The European Union's Digital Agenda Commissioner has warned internet stakeholders that they must not take for granted the reliability of the ICT infrastructure which underpins the net.

Speaking at a dinner hosted by .eu registry EURid, Neelie Kroes praised the success of the domain, which now has over 3.2 million registrations, and EURid's work to incorporate non-Roman characters into web addresses.

"So .eu must reflect our identity, including our cultural and linguistic diversity. Yet to be attractive, it must equally be a safe and secure domain name," she said.

"By security, I mean two things: the security of the internet's own integrity, in particular the key component of the Domain Name System; and the security of those who use the internet."

Private and public sector organisations both have an obligation to protect against spam, identity theft, phishing and other cyber crimes, as well as ensuring that "the internet itself is not vulnerable to any large-scale failure ", she added.

"We have got used to an internet which is remarkably resilient to such failure, but we should not make the mistake of taking such reliability for granted," warned Kroes.

"With the new telecoms regulatory framework, the obligations of telecoms companies and internet service providers regarding the integrity of networks and services and privacy have been clearly defined in case of privacy or security breaches, and the tasks and the powers of public authorities have also been clarified and enhanced."