Pressefach: ENISA - European Network and Information Security Agency

Priorities for Research on Current & Emerging Network Technologies (PROCENT)

(PresseBox) Heraklion/Crete, 29.04.2010, The past decade has seen a revolution in the way we communicate. An increasing number of services are going - or are being created - online, along with vast quantities of rich, multimedia content. The Digital Society that derived from this revolution is accompanied by a change in expectations. All participants - consumers, service providers, government - will expect the underlying communications infrastructure to support the demands the Digital Society will place on it. They will expect services to provide the required functionality, to be available at all times and in all places and to process and store data securely. Moreover, the service and infrastructure components will need to actively cooperate to provide the most reliable environment where services become increasingly complex, interdependent and mashedup. It is the subject of availability that concerns us here - research into the technologies that improve the resilience of data networks and, therefore, the availability of online services.

In March 2010 the European Commission launched the EU2020 strategy and, within its frame, a flagship initiativeA digital agenda for Europe. This is the continuation of earlier Lisbon Strategy and its i2010 initiative, which highlighted the importance of network and information security for the creation of a single European information space. ENISA's activities recently focused on, among other matters, the suitability of backbone Internet technologies regarding the integrity and stability of networks as currently deployed. As a further step in this direction, in 2009 the Agency proceeded with an assessment of the impact of new technologies on the security and resilience of network resources, and the identification of research priorities in the areas of networking resilience and in network and information security, basing on its Multiannual Thematic Programme (MTP1) "Improving resilience in European e-Communication networks".

This study was carried out under the umbrella of ENISA by a group of experts in the relevant areas who are experienced in running securityrelated research projects, in developing and implementing new networking technologies and in creating policies.

A number of areas, comprising one or more technologies and policies that are currently in use or where there are plans to introduce them within a few years, were identified as having an impact on the resilience of networks. Some of these areas are already well established, described and standardised, some are in the very early stages of development and, finally, some will only come into broad use over a very long time frame (more than five years).

Five areas have been assessed as presenting the biggest need for research within a window of three to five years:

- cloud computing
- real-time detection and diagnosis systems
- future wireless networks
- sensor networks
- supply chain integrity

These areas are analysed and described in detail in the core of the report.

This report is expected to contribute in the process of identifying research projects on a European level by, on the one hand, offering knowledge of industry needs to potential research institutions and, on the other hand, drawing the attention of decisionmakers to the most relevant.

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