EU agency research advises sweeping security improvements

ISPs and developers should be held to account, says report.

A research paper commissioned by the European Network and Information Security Agency (ENISA) has called for major changes to the way security is currently handled, advising tighter regulations for developers and ISPs and the foundation of an independent agency to monitor cybercrime.

The paper, prepared by a group of academic advisors from the universities of Cambridge and Dresden, among others, looks at the current state of security and puts forward a wide range of proposals to improve things, with particular interest in the economic viability of the proposals.

The report concludes with 15 separate recommendations, including higher standards of openness in vulnerability and data loss disclosure, clearer and more comprehensive patching of flawed software, measures to punish ISPs found to be harbouring cybercrime, pan-European measures to monitor and prosecute cybercrime and to compensate its victims, and greater caution in ensuring new anti-cybercrime legislation does not impede the efforts of security researchers and firms.

An overview of the report is at The Register here, with comment on the Authentium blog here. The full paper, in PDF format, is at ENISA here.

13 March 2008

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