On the lookout [network security]

Abstract

The importance of the Internet as a platform for making an electronic and connected world a reality is unquestionable. But without secure networks and infrastructures to underpin it, the new opportunities available cannot be enjoyed. The European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) is the European Standardisation Organization (ESO) responsible for standardisation in telecommunications, broadcasting and certain aspects of information technology (IT) within Europe. One important project currently being undertaken in ETSI has the mission to examine the key issues involved in the provision of telecommunication security, with a view to gaining security for end-to-end communication over heterogeneous networks. This work is aimed at ensuring confidentiality, authentication and access control, maintenance of quality of service and assurance of reliability. ETSI set up a specialist task force to accelerate work in this area. This team of experts worked with the ETSI project TIPHON (telecommunications and Internet Protocol harmonisation over networks), a major ETSI plan aimed at addressing service level interworking between traditional switched-circuit networks and the emerging next generation network (NGN) infrastructure, based on IP technology.