Brussels, 06/06/2001 (Agence Europe) - In response to the European Council of Stockholm, on Wednesday the European Commission adopted its communication, on an initiative by Erkki Liikanen, "Network and Information Security: Proposals for a European Policy approach", in which it makes a series of recommendations aimed at making the Internet more secure for individuals and companies.
The Commission's communication: 1)defines the security of networks and information which is characterized by: availability (accessibility to data and uninterrupted functioning of services), authentification ( confirmation of an asserted identity if entities or users, especially in banking services), data integrity (confirmation that data which has been sent, received or stored are complete and unchanged, especially in the medical field), confidentiality (protection of communications or stored data against interception and reading by unauthorized persons); 2) overview security threats: virusus, pirating, refusal of service, interception and natural disasters.
To respond to the problems of security, the Commission proposes, notably: 1) launching a public information and education campaign, together with Member States; 2) set in place a European alert and information system; 3) enhancing cooperation between national intervention teams in case of computer emergencies ("CERT); 4) backing normalization and certification closer to market needs; 5) speed-up work on solutions interoperability; 6) cooperation internationally. At present, it is up to Member States and the European Parliament to decide, and the Summit of Gothenburg will provide guidelines for the future. As for the Commission, it will launch in-depth discussions with industry, users and authorities responsible for data protection. Reactions may be sent by end-August to the following address: eeurope@cec.eu.int