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Having started our Dynamic Coalition at the virtual IGF 2020, the Internet Standards, Security and Safety Coalition can look back on its second year. After a first year of defining our plans and goals, in the second year we took off. So let us reflect and look ahead, but not without thanking you for your
efforts and contributions in 2022.
At the IGF in Addis Ababa WG 2 on Education and Skills presented its report. With thanks to our sponsors SIDN Fonds and NASK and an in-kind contribution of Insight S.A., the research into the skills
gap in tertiary education started in 2022. With the assistance of the IGF Youth Dynamic Coalition and from the Asian-Pacific IGF, interviews were conducted and a survey held. This led to responses from 66 countries. This input became the report ‘Closing the gap between the needs of the cybersecurity industry and the skills of tertiary education graduates’. You can download it from our website:
https://is3coalition.org/docs-category/research-reports/.
Teuntje Manders (WG2), left, formally presented the report to the MAG chair Paul Mitchell and Mieke van Heesewijk (SIDN Fund) and Julia Piechna (NASK), Thursday 1 December in Addis Ababa.
WG 1 on Security by Design – Internet of Things started its work thanks to a donation of Microsoft.
The research focused on legal documents from 21 nations or supra national organizations. They were compared and scored on a host of features. The results of this body of work, carried out over the summer by three researchers from Latin America, were presented at an IS3C day 0 event in Addis
Ababa. The draft report is currently under review and will be presented for public consultation at the beginning of January 2023. After this consultation period the final report will be written, expected to be published in March 2023.
With support of UNDESA WG 6 started its work on Data Governance and Security in July 2023. Here also legal and legislative documents from around the world are compared and scored to discern the best practices. The report is expected in the winter of 2023.
In 2022, thanks to the work of WG 4 on Communication, we were able to launch our website. The website exists thanks to the support of EGIGFA (E-Governance and Internet Governance Foundation for Africa), and was developed by our website administrator, Abraham Selby. SIDN and Microsoft
supported the coordination of IS3C. The Dutch Internet Standards Platform and ECP support IS3C in kind by handling administrative activities.
Looking forward to 2023, it is easy to see ambitions will only reach higher. At the IGF IS3C was able to announce the start of two new working groups. Having received a grant from the RIPE Fund, WGs 3 and 5 start their work in January 2023. WG 3 will research the best practices on how the deployment of internet standards and ICT best practices is promoted through procurement and supply chain management. The result will be a report that assists governments and organisations to procure secure by design and assists in the creation of a security by design business case for the ICT industry.
WG 5 will present a “top 40” list of the most urgent security-related Internet standards and ICT best practices, as presented by a, to be formed, team of experts that are to reach a rough consensus on the content of this list. Secondly, an iterative list of all security standards and best practices is to be
compiled and hosted.
Furthermore, several individuals have expressed interest in starting a new working group in 2023. These topics were suggested: WG 7 Consumer protection; WG 8 DNSSEC, RPKI and IPv6; WG 9 PostQuantum Encryption and WG 10 New and Emerging Technologies, e.g. A.I. and quantum computing.
All will be further developed and then presented to the membership. New ideas for WGs can be shared with the coordinator at all times.
In 2023 WGs 1 and 2 will continue their work. The next steps are aimed to turn the theory into practice. It is nice to have identified the skills gap between tertiary education curricula and the demands of industry and society, but how do we close it? How are we to ensure that the best practices identified in IoT security by design are actually adopted by governments, industry and consumers? The next phase of the WGs aims to solve these issues.
The next steps of WG 2 are clearly defined in its report. Only when this plan succeeds, will IS3C have the impact it strives to have.
Also, expect IS3C input to the Global Digital Compact. Under WG 4 a team is working to phrase the importance of Internet security and safety along the lines and outcomes of our work.
We cannot do this without your continued support, input, ideas. We cannot do this without financial support that allows us to pay for research, that supports the Leadership and the necessary outreach.
To make a difference IS3C needs to be at the places where differences are made and decisions taken. You are invited to remain active in 2023 and consider a donation by your organisation. I wish you all a happy holiday season and a great 2023, in which IS3C lives up to its ambition: Making
the Internet more secure and safer!
Wout de Natris
Coordinator IS3C
