The All Africa Internet Guide

Author : Internet Society
Publisher :
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 32 pages
Book Rating : 4.:/5 (13 download)

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Download or read book Internet InfrastructureSecurity Guidelines for Africa written by Internet Society and published by . This book was released on 2017 with total page 32 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Executive Summary. In 2014, African Union (AU) members adopted the African Union Convention on Cyber Security and Personal Data Protection (“the Convention”).1To facilitate implementation of the Convention, the African Union Commission (AUC) asked the Internet Society (ISOC) to jointly develop Internet Infrastructure Security Guidelines for Africa (“the Guidelines”). The Guidelines were created with contributions from regional and global Internet infrastructure security experts, government and CERT representatives, and network and ccTLD DNS operators. The Guidelines emphasize the importance of the multistakeholder model and a collaborative security approach in protecting Internet infrastructure. The Guidelines put forward four essential principles of Internet infrastructure security: Awareness, Responsibility, Cooperation, and adherence to Fundamental Rights and Internet Properties. The Guidelines recommend the most critical actions for various stakeholders to take on Internet infrastructure security. These critical actions are tailored to the African cyber security environment’s unique features: a shortage of skilled human resources; limited resources (including financial) for governments and organizations to allocate for cyber security; limited levels of awareness of cyber security issues among stakeholders; and a general lack of awareness of the risks involved in the use of information and communication technologies (ICTs).Given the broad nature of Internet infrastructure security, a single document is not sufficient, and further work will be needed to complement the Guidelines with specific recommendations addressing particular issues. This set of recommendations is a first, yet significant, step in producing a visible and positive change in the African Internet infrastructure security landscape.Regional (African Union) Level• Form an Africa-wide Cyber Security Collaboration and Coordination Committee (ACS3C) • The committee would be a multistakeholder group that would advise policymakers of the AUC on regional strategies and capacity building, and facilitate information sharing across the region.• Engage in Capacity Building and Knowledge Sharing on a pan-African Level• The AUC should develop capacity building programs, as advised by the ACS3C, in all areas of Internet infrastructure security.National Level• Identify and Protect Critical Internet Infrastructure• National governments should take a services-based approach to identifying critical Internet infrastructure for protection. • Facilitate Information Exchange through a National Multistakeholder Structure• National governments should develop multistakeholder structures to advise on cyber security strategy and policy, and to facilitate information sharing.• Establish and Strengthen National Level Computer Security Incident Response Teams (CSIRTs)• National governments working with other stakeholders should establish or support existing national CSIRTs to coordinate security incident response and pre-response. • Promote Internet Infrastructure Resilience through Internet Exchange Points (IXPs)• National governments should promote the use of IXPs, and greater cooperation and connectivity between different African networks to increase the resilience of Internet infrastructure. • Use Public Institutions to Lead by Example in Cyber Security• Governments should adopt and follow cyber security best practices within their own infrastructure and institutions, promoting their use to other stakeholders and sectors.ISP/Operator Level• Establish Baseline Security• Network operators and service providers should implement essential routing and Domain Name System security measures, network security and other essential security practices to produce a visible and positive change in the African Internet infrastructure security landscape.• Establish and Maintain Cooperation and Collaboration• Network operators and service providers should establish and maintain cooperation and collaboration as an essential component of security solutions.Organizational Level• Organizations should implement current best practices and strive to develop a culture of cyber security at all levels of the organization.