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Commonwealth drums support for Internet safety
For most of us as the industry followers, the 11th annual forum of the Commonwealth Telecommunications Organisation (CTO) ended at the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Abuja with some excitements with the theme: Innovation Through Broadband
The forum which held between October 7 and 9 had the three-day as public forum, followed by strictly ministerial sessions, which included the tour of some historic sites in the city without the exclusion of the Telecom Museum of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC).
As a stakeholder-led organization, the Nigeria Internet Registration Association (NIRA) took part in one of the break-outs, Session 4, which focus was on how Commonwealth nations will ensure the safety of internet users.
At this session, three core papers were presented on comprising “Strategy for building an Internet safety wall delivered by the Director, New Media at Nigerian Communications Commission, Dr. Sylvanus Ehikioya; High-level overview of Resource Public Key Infrastructure (RPKI) and Domain Name System Security Extension (DNSSEC) - Key pieces of the cybersecurity puzzle by Mukom Akong Tamon, the Training Manger at the AfriNIC, the Regional Registry for Internet Number Resources covering the African Internet Community; and Understanding the imperatives of national domain names for safe internet by yours sincerely, NIRA President.
However, it is essential to recognize the fact that Resource Public Key Infrastructure (RPKI), also known as Resource Certification, is a specialized public key infrastructure (PKI) framework designed to secure the Internet's routing infrastructure.
Thus, RPKI, provides a way to connect Internet number resource information, such as Autonomous System Numbers (ASN) and Internet Protocol (IP) addresses; to a trust anchor. The certificate structure mirrors the way in which Internet number resources are distributed.
That is to say, resources are initially distributed by the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) to the Regional Internet Registries (RIRs), who in turn distribute them to Local Internet Registries (LIRs), who then distribute the resources to their customers.
RPKI, therefore, could be used by the legitimate holders of the resources to control the operations of Internet routing protocols, so as to prevent route hijacking and other attacks. Particularly, RPKI is used to secure the Border Gateway Protocol (BGP) through its Security (BGPSEC), as well as Neighbor Discovery Protocol (NDP) for IP version Six (IPv6) through the Secure Neighbor Discovery Protocol (SEND).
Work on standardizing RPKI is reportedly current as late as 2011 as the ongoing at the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) via a working group, based on a threat analysis which was documented in RFC 4593.
We look forward to African Telecommunications Union (ATU) adopting the same concern towards driving the internet safety down to the sub-regions on the continent in order to further encourage countries to embrace the notion.
Yours Sincerely,
Mrs. Mary Nma Uduma
President/CEO, NIRA
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Onyekwere takes over BoT chair from Odeyemi
The meeting of the Board of Trustees (BoT) of the Nigeria Internet Registration Association (NIRA) took place on Thursday, 10th of October, 2013.
According to NIRA President, Mrs. Mary Nma Uduma, the major business of the day was the election of a new BoT chairman.
“Deacon Chima Onyekwere, OON, was unanimously elected as the Chairman BoT. He takes over from Dr. Isaac A. Odeyemi, who is the pioneer BoT Chairman,” she said.
Mrs. Uduma also revealed that Mrs. Ibukun Odusote, the Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Agriculture and the pioneer Point of Contact for .NG, retained her post as the Secretary of the BoT.
A new member to the BoT is Barrister Emmanuel Edet, who is representing the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) as ratified at the last Annual General Meeting (AGM) of NIRA. Other members who retained their positions in the BOT include Mr. Olaleye Alao, Mr. Shina Badaru, Y. Z Ya’u, Dr. Chris Nwannenna, Prof. Adenike Osofisan and Mrs. Mary Uduma, President, NIRA. |
Correct access imbalances, Johnson tasks Commonwealth
The Nigerian Minister of Communication Technology, Mrs. Omobola Johnson, has reiterated the need to correct imbalances in access to connectivity by turning 'rhetoric into broadband' among member countries of Commonwealth Telecommunication Organisation (CTO).
Johnson in her closing address to 11th annual CTO forum in Abuja, noted that by redressing the imbalances, the poor and unconnected would be released from the bondage of marginalisation.
"We have also considered the challenges of rolling out the very expensive infrastructure this technology need, of managing scarce resources to ensure ubiquitous, reasonably priced access," she said.
According to her more concerted and well thought out efforts must be made to bring the previously unconnected to the Internet, just as aggressive roll out is canvassed. |
10 most critical issues of internet safety - Uduma
President of the Nigeria Internet Registration Association (NIRA), Mrs. Mary Uduma has prescribed some 10 critical issues that must be addressed to enthrone internet safety.
Speaking at a session four breakouts, at the CTO Forum 2013 in Abuja, Mrs. Uduma outlined these most critical issues to include “Inappropriate contents as duly classified, Online backdoor distributive channels, Misuse and abuse of IT devices and critical internet resources, Users abuse and exploitation materials, User personal vulnerability, as well as Digital harm and exposure risk critical to personal safety and national image.
She also listed Digital device safety and mobile protection, Internet security and online safety illiteracy, Vendor neutral safety countermeasures, and Local internet community safety capability gap, as part of the essentials.
The aforementioned, she said, have varying consequences on the economy, socio-security, development and innovations. |
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