ETSI hosts another successful Security Week

ETSI hosts another successful Security Week

Sophia Antipolis, 21 June 2019

ETSI Security Week 2019 (17-21 June) attracted over 300 attendees to ETSI’s headquarters to listen to presentations and engage in panel discussions and networking with leading experts in cybersecurity from industry, universities, governmental bodies and national security agencies.

As networked computing technology spreads into almost every aspect of our daily lives Internet security is becoming one of the first items addressed in any new ICT implementation. ETSI has been hosting cybersecurity workshops and events for more than 10 years, drawing on the expertise and experience of its membership to share and promote best practice. The event was the place to announce that the very successful and recently released Technical Specification ETSI TS 103 645 for consumer IoT security would become an EN, a European Standard, to be adopted as a national standard in each of the 36 ETSI European member countries.

This year’s event was divided into sections on the cybersecurity landscape, policy actions, the role and implications of artificial intelligence, and the impact of the dynamically changing nature of technology and user behaviour. A series of Explainer sessions delivered concise overviews of ETSI’s ongoing work in some of the hottest areas in the security world including Quantum Safe Computing, IoT consumer security, Permissioned Distributed Ledgers, and smart M2M security.

The opening day set the scene, presenting a high level view of the current threats and challenges faced within the cybersecurity landscape as well as outlining the possibilities that new technologies and techniques present for addressing these. On the second day, delegates heard about the status of the European Cybersecurity Act and there was active debate about ePrivacy regulation. Proposals for the certification of cloud services and IoT deployments were discussed along with what the implications of this would be, both for standards bodies and organizations in general.

Day three was devoted to artificial intelligence (AI), one of the most keenly debated technology subjects. The step function increase in capabilities that AI promises presents challenges and opportunities in almost equal measure. Presenters explored the detail of what risks are posed and how AI can be harnessed in defence of systems. By examining where gaps exist within current security regimes, the speakers were able to highlight where new standards work could help to close these gaps.

Building on the previous presentations, the last two days looked at the implications for security from the fast pace of technology evolution across areas including 5G, IoT and quantum cryptography and the resulting changes in user behavior and society as a whole.

“Since ETSI began hosting these annual gatherings in 2012, new cyber threats have emerged while many of the old ones have mutated to attack technology that did not exist at that time and which now stretches into many more areas of our lives. The challenges we face come from disparate sources whose motivations range from commercial and economic, through political, to simply mischief making. If we are to address these challenges successfully we must all work in unison and the best way to achieve this is lay down appropriate standards. The work of ETSI’s members continues to play a key role in the progress towards a more secure and safe future for us all,” said Tony Rutkowski, rapporteur at ETSI TC CYBER.

The week was topped off with a Middlebox Security Protocol (MSP) Hackathon. Middleboxes are essential to the operation and security of networks and ETSI’s recently published MSP deliverables have focused attention on the issues involved in ensuring their integrity. Teams from various organizations participated in the hackathon, demonstrating a series of implementations that aimed to advance the use of MSP.

Full details on the ETSI Security Week 2019 including agenda and copies of the presentation materials to download can be found on our website. A video featuring highlights of the event will be posted on the ETSI website soon.