INTERPOL and ICANN to Work Together on Internet Security

Top Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) and INTERPOL officials have started exploring ways they can collaborate on enhancing Internet security.

“The Internet has no borders, and neither do the criminals who exploit it. As the Internet’s role in society continues to increase in scope and importance, it is vital for INTERPOL to help create bridges between the international law enforcement community it represents and ICANN in order to advance Internet security practices for the benefit to all,” said INTERPOL Secretary General Ronald K. Noble

Noble then cited the points the global coordinator of domain and names and Internet protocol addresses and the international police organisation had in common. “Both organisations are international, both are politically neutral, and both are focused on the good of the world. Both also care about improving the security of the Internet for the future,” he said.

ICANN representatives were similarly optimistic. “We recognise Interpol as an important international leader in this field…We are pleased by its expression of interest in joining the ICANN Governmental Advisory Committee as an observer,” said ICANN President and CEO Rod Beckstrom, who on Monday (May 23) led a delegation–which included ICANN’s Vice President and Chief Security Officer Jeff Moss, Vice President of Government Affairs Jamie Hedlund, and Alice Jansen of its Organizational Reviews unit–to INTERPOL’s General Secretariat headquarters for high-level talks between the two global organisations.

Discussions at the meeting, the first of its kind between INTERPOL and ICANN, covered general issues of cybersecurity, and financial and high tech crime. Beckstrom and Noble particularly homed in on Internet security governance and the enhancement of common means for preventing and addressing Internet crime.

Both organisations have also agreed that an INTERPOL delegation will be attending ICANN’s upcoming international conference in Singapore, scheduled for June 20-24, during which INTERPOL’s membership of the ICANN’s Governmental Advisory Committee (GAC) as an international observer will be explored.