[ncdnhc-discuss] Revised security resolution

[Milton Mueller]

Resolution on Security
Submitted by Alejandro Pisanty (with amendments)

Recent, tragic events have heightened 
the need to assess the security of the 
Internet's centrally coordinated resources, 
and the need for strong international 
cooperation for this purpose. 

The Internet's robustness relies largely 
on its distributed, decentralized nature. 
ICANN is responsible for central coordination 
of key resources critical to its operation; 
namely, domain names, Internet addresses, 
and protocol parameters.  Ensuring the 
security of the DNS root servers, the IP 
allocation system, and other central 
resources within ICANN's deliberately 
limited purview, is a responsibility shared 
by all organizations within ICANN.

The non-commercial organizations and 
entities represented in the Non-Commercial 
Domain-Name Holders Constituency 
(NCDNHC) of ICANN's DNSO may be less 
able to recover from disruptions in their 
operations caused by attacks on the DNS.

Many non-commercial interests in the DNS 
and IP allocation system are in universities 
and research institutes with high levels of 
technical expertise. Many others, however, 
have very limited financial and technical 
resources to train for defense against and 
prevention of attacks or to recover from a 
crisis.

Because the expertise embodied in non-
commercial organizations is usually more 
accessible to a wider community and not 
restricted to proprietary interests, academic 
and other non-commercial organizations may 
be optimal points for the diffusion of knowledge 
about threats to the security of the systems 
under ICANN's administration.

Therefore the NCDNHC calls upon the Names 
Council, the ASO, the PSO, the ICANN Board, 
and Education and Research Networks 
throughout the world to promptly assess the 
threats to the security of the resources under 
ICANN's coordination, and to establish measures 
to address these threats, their avoidance, and 
the minimization or avoidance of the collateral 
damage they may produce, in order that non-
commercial organizations with limited technical, 
human and financial resources can be protected 
from such threats, and have affordable access 
to preventive measures.

Further, the NCDNHC calls upon its technically 
strong members and their peers to aid ICANN 
in the aforementioned effort to assess the 
threats to the stability security of the DNS and 
address allocation system and to provide the 
community with their expertise. The NCDNHC 
organization representatives will call on people 
from their communities to provide further 
assistance.

The NCDNHC offers the technical and policy 
expertise of its members, the high standing 
of some of them in their societies, and the 
intercultural experience of the constituency 
to the process of assessing and securing the 
security of the resources under ICANN's 
administration.