Today is the beginning of National Cyber Security Awareness month, and to mark that occasion, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) is launching its new approach to security – Recommendation on Digitial Security Risk Management for Economic and Social Prosperity, an approach that resonates with the Internet Society’s own Collaborative Security principles.
The OECD Recommendation represents a major milestone in the evolution of cybersecurity policy. Significantly, the recommendation defines a clear purpose for security: economic and social prosperity. This is basically the “why”. It’s about protecting something we value, rather than simply stopping something that is bad. There is no absolute security: a certain level of risk has to be accepted to achieve social and economic objectives. To take an extreme example, take away the Internet and there would be no cybercrime, but there would also be no global digital economy.
The Recommendation also provide a “how” – digital security risk management, and emphasizes that the security of the digital economy depends on everyone. The Internet, a major driver for the digital economy, creates global interdependency and a clear need for cross-border cross-stakeholder cooperation.
It also reinforces the importance of protecting human rights and fundamental values while implementing security. Moreover, the Recommendation calls for digital security risk management based on ethical conduct which respects and recognises the legitimate interests of others and society as a whole.
Today represents the culmination of a suite of work undertaken by the OECD in recent years to develop better security policies relevant for an open and interconnected digital world. But, it is also the first step on the path to the 2016 OECD Ministerial Meeting on the Digital Economy in Cancún, Mexico.
The Internet Society, through the Internet Technical Advisory Committee (ITAC), worked as an equal partner with OECD countries, business, civil society and other experts to develop these principles. (Read the ITAC news release about today’s news.) We very pleased to see the work come to fruition and the consensus that it represents. We hope that these principles and our Collaborative Security approach will guide governments around the world as they develop and update their cybersecurity policies.
We will be continuing our work with key policy drivers like the OECD to promote the adoption of better security policies for open Internet that is truly global, trusted and resilient.
Coming up next month =>
At the OECD’s invitation, we will be co-hosting, together with the World Economic Forum, a workshop at the Internet Governance Forum (IGF) on Managing Security Risks for Sustainable Development on 11 November 2015.
Come and see how security policies for an open Internet contribute to sustainable development goals.