ITU launches one-stop-shop for cybersecurity standards info

Stuart Corner
Friday, 08 June 2007 08:09

Business IT - Technology

The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) has developed an web portal that provides a single access point to ICT security standards work being carried out by multiple organisations.

The guide, the ICT Security Standards Roadmap  is a collaborative effort between ITU, the European Network and Security Information Agency (ENISA) and the Network and Information Security Steering Group (NISSG). Other organisations are invited to join and contribute.

According to the ITU, "For the first time, ICT security vendors, service providers, developers, researchers and the public will now have security standards at their fingertips, with one common user interface." The guide enables potential users of security standards and other stakeholders to gain an understanding of what standards are available or under development as well as the key organisations that are working in the area. It also lists standards-development organisations and the security standards they publish.

It will act as a central tracking facility "enabling the identification of standards and standards activities...fostering coordination among standardisation bodies, reducing duplication of effort and making it easier to identify existing gaps."

The guide is presently organised in five sections:
# ICT standards development organisations and their work;
# Approved ICT security standards;
# Security standards under development;
# Future needs and proposed new security standards;
# Best practices.

The guide will be expanded over time to include other standards bodies. The ITU says "It is hoped that standards organisations whose work is not represented in this version of the Roadmap will provide information to ITU-T about their work so that it may be included in future editions."

Launch of the Roadmap follows the announcement last month by ITU secretary-general, Dr Hamadoun Touré, of the ITU Global Cybersecurity Agenda, billed as "an ambitious two-year plan to curb cybercrime."