Critical Internet infrastructure

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Critical Internet infrastructure is a collective term for all hardware and software systems that constitute essential components in the operation of the Internet.

Background[]

Several studies and events have helped to define the scope of critical Internet infrastructure. In August 2013, Internet infrastructure experts including Yuval Shavitt, Bill Woodcock, Rossella Mattioli, Thomas Haeberlen, Ethan Katz-Bassett and Roland Dobbins convened for six days at Schloss Dagstuhl to refine the academic and policy understanding of critical Internet infrastructure, producing a number of papers in the process.[1] In 2017, the Global Commission on the Stability of Cyberspace undertook a global survey of Internet infrastructure experts in order to assess the degree of consensus on what constituted critical Internet infrastructure, producing a Definition of the Public Core which has since been used by the OECD and others as a standardized description of the principal elements of Internet critical infrastructure.[2][3] In addition to these globally-applicable findings, nationally-specific definitions have been made by individual governments, for example by the US Government Accountability Office in 2006[4] and the US White House in 2013.[5]

GCSC definition[]

The report of the GCSC Critical Infrastructure Assessment Working Group has summarized the results of their survey in a comprehensive definition of Critical Internet infrastructure, which includes the following elements:[2]

  • Packet routing and forwarding
  • Naming and numbering systems
  • Security and identity protection
  • Physical transmission media

See also[]

References[]

  1. ^ Carle, Georg; Schiller, Jochen; Uhlig, Steve; Willinger, Walter; Wählisch, Mattias, eds. (9 August 2013). "The Critical Internet Infrastructure". Dagstuhl Reports. Schloss Dagstuhl: Dagstuhl Publishing. 3 (8): 27–39. doi:10.4230/DagRep.3.8.27.
  2. ^ a b "Definition of the Public Core, to which the Norm Applies" (PDF). Global Commission on the Stability of Cyberspace. 21 May 2018. Retrieved 25 June 2021. As input to its process, a working group of the GCSC conducted a broad survey of experts on communications infrastructure and cyber defense to assess which infrastructures were deemed most worthy of protection. On a scale of zero to ten, with zero being 'unworthy of special protection' and ten being 'essential to include in the protected class,' all surveyed categories ranked between 6.02 and 9.01. Accordingly, the Commission defines the phrase 'the public core of the Internet' to include packet routing and forwarding, naming and numbering systems, the cryptographic mechanisms of security and identity, and physical transmission media.
  3. ^ Report of the GCSC Critical Infrastructure Assessment Working Group (PDF). Global Commission on the Stability of Cyberspace. November 20, 2017. p. 61. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2021-06-26. Retrieved 26 June 2021.
  4. ^ "Internet Infrastructure: DHS Faces Challenges in Developing a Joint Public/Private Recovery Plan" (PDF). United States Government Accountability Office. June 2006.
  5. ^ "Presidential Policy Directive 21: Critical Infrastructure Security and Resilience". The White House. 12 February 2013.
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