The Global Commission on the Stability of Cyberspace was a
multistakeholder Internet governance
Internet governance consists of a system of laws, rules, policies and practices that dictate how its board members manage and oversee the affairs of any internet related-regulatory body. This article describes how the Internet was and is currentl ...
organization, dedicated to the creation of
diplomatic norms of
governmental
A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a state.
In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive, and judiciary. Government is a ...
non-aggression in
cyberspace
Cyberspace is a concept describing a widespread interconnected digital technology. "The expression dates back from the first decade of the diffusion of the internet. It refers to the online world as a world 'apart', as distinct from everyday rea ...
. It operated for three years, from 2017 through 2019, and produced the diplomatic norm for which it was chartered and seven others.
Origins
Together with the Global Forum on Cyber Expertise, the GCSC was a product of the 2015-2017 Dutch chairmanship of the London Process, and particularly the work of Wouter Jurgens who, as head of the cyber security department of the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs, had responsibility for organizing the
4th Global Conference on CyberSpace ministerial, which was held in The Hague April 16–17 of 2015, and formalizing its outcomes. Jurgens had been working for several years on the topic of governmental non-aggression in cyberspace, in collaboration with
Uri Rosenthal
Uriël "Uri" Rosenthal (born 19 July 1945) is a retired Dutch politician of the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD) and political scientist.
Rosenthal a political scientist by occupation, was elected as a Member of the Senate on 8 Ju ...
,
Bill Woodcock
Bill Woodcock (born August 16, 1971 in San Francisco, California, United States) is the executive director of Packet Clearing House, the international organization responsible for providing operational support and security to critical Internet ...
, Olaf Kolkman, James Lewis, and others who would subsequently become GCSC commissioners.
The GCSC was launched by Dutch Foreign Minister
Bert Koenders
Albert Gerard "Bert" Koenders (; born 28 May 1958) is a Dutch politician of the Labour Party (Netherlands), Labour Party (PvdA) who served as Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands, Minister of Foreign Affairs from 2014 to 2017. He is curr ...
at the 53rd
Munich Security Conference
The Munich Security Conference (MSC; german: Münchner Sicherheitskonferenz) is an annual conference on international security policy that has been held in Munich, Bavaria, Germany since 1963. Former names are ''Wehrkundetagung'' and ''Münchner ...
, on February 18, 2017, with a three-year charter, and issued its final report at the
Paris Peace Forum
The Paris Peace Forum is a French non-profit organisation created in March 2018. The organisation hosts an annual gathering of world leaders and heads of international organisations, as well as leaders from civil society and private sectors and t ...
, on November 13, 2019.
Published norms
Norm to Protect the Public Core of the Internet
The ''Norm to Protect the Public Core'' is the GCSC's principal product, and has been included or referenced in many subsequent legislative and diplomatic work. It was included in the
European Union
The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been des ...
's
Cybersecurity Act, which extends the mandate of the
European Union Agency for Cybersecurity
The European Union Agency for Cybersecurity – self-designation ENISA from the abbreviation of its original name – is an agency of the European Union. It is fully operational since September 1, 2005. The Agency is located in Athens, Greece an ...
to include the protection of the public core. The
Paris Call for Trust and Security in Cyberspace included a call for compliance with the Public Core norm. The
United Nations
The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and international security, security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be ...
cites the Public Core norm in the 2019 report of the Secretary General and the report of the Secretary General’s High-level Panel on Digital Cooperation, ''The Age of Digital Interdependence.''
Norm to Protect the Electoral Infrastructure
Norm to Avoid Tampering
Norm Against Commandeering of ICT Devices into Botnets
Norm for States to Create a Vulnerabilities Equities Process
Norm to Reduce and Mitigate Significant Vulnerabilities
Norm on Basic Cyber Hygiene as Foundation Defense
Norm Against Offensive Cyber Operations by Non-State Actors
Other publications
In addition to the ''Norm to Protect the Public Core'' and the seven subsequent norms, the GCSC has published several other documents.
Definition of the Public Core, to which the Norm Applies
Early in the process of defining the ''Norm to Protect the Public Core'' the effort was divided into two working groups, one, principally diplomatic, to specify what actions should be precluded; the other, involving subject-matter experts, to specify which infrastructures were deemed most worthy of protection. This latter working group specified a survey of cybersecurity experts, delegated implementation of the survey to
Packet Clearing House
Packet Clearing House (PCH) is the international nonprofit organization responsible for providing operational support and security to critical internet infrastructure, including Internet exchange points and the core of the domain name system. ...
, and integrated its results to form the ''Definition of the Public Core, to which the Norm Applies''. This definition of the "public core of the Internet" to include packet routing and forwarding, naming and numbering systems, the cryptographic mechanisms of security and identity, and physical transmission media, with more-specific details attending to each, has since been used by the
OECD
The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD; french: Organisation de coopération et de développement économiques, ''OCDE'') is an intergovernmental organisation with 38 member countries, founded in 1961 to stimulate e ...
and others as a standardized description of the principal elements of Internet critical infrastructure.
Statement on the Interpretation of the Norm on Non-Interference with the Public Core
On September 22, 2021, the GCSC released a three-page statement responding, in large part, to Russia's submission to the
ITU
The International Telecommunication Union is a specialized agency of the United Nations responsible for many matters related to information and communication technologies. It was established on 17 May 1865 as the International Telegraph Unio ...
Council Working Group on International Internet-related Public Policy Issues, ''Risk Analysis of the Existing Internet Governance and Operational Model''. The statement reiterates the GCSC's findings that state actors are the primary threat to Internet stability, not private actors; that the GCSC believes that the
multistakeholder model of
Internet governance
Internet governance consists of a system of laws, rules, policies and practices that dictate how its board members manage and oversee the affairs of any internet related-regulatory body. This article describes how the Internet was and is currentl ...
is key to maintaining Internet stability, and that the Internet's critical infrastructure is principally operated by the private sector.
Derivative work
In addition to the norms the commission published, several other organizations were created and efforts undertaken as byproducts of the commission's work.
CyberPeace Institute
One of the most notable derivative outcomes of the GCSC's work was the formation of the CyberPeace Institute, headed by GCSC commissioner
Marietje Schaake
Maria Renske "Marietje" Schaake (; born 28 October 1978) is a Dutch politician who served as Member of the European Parliament (MEP) from the Netherlands between 2009 and 2019. She is a member of Democrats 66, part of the Alliance of Liberals a ...
and Europol veteran Stéphane Duguin. This independent, non governmental organization has the mission to highlight the human aspect of cyberattacks. It works in close collaboration with relevant partners to reduce the harms from cyberattacks on people’s lives worldwide. The Institute builds on the GCSC's work by monitoring compliance with its norms and coordinating cyber-attack forensic and analytic efforts that broaden public understanding of norm violations.
Critical infrastructure assessment
As input to the ''Definition of the Public Core'', a global survey of Internet infrastructure security experts was conducted in 2017 by
Packet Clearing House
Packet Clearing House (PCH) is the international nonprofit organization responsible for providing operational support and security to critical internet infrastructure, including Internet exchange points and the core of the domain name system. ...
, headed by GCSC commissioner
Bill Woodcock
Bill Woodcock (born August 16, 1971 in San Francisco, California, United States) is the executive director of Packet Clearing House, the international organization responsible for providing operational support and security to critical Internet ...
.
Participants
Image:GCSC-at-PPF-2019-945px.jpg
rect 591 12 657 84 Jeff Moss
Jeffrey Arnold "Jeff" Moss (June 19, 1942 – September 24, 1998) was an American composer, lyricist, playwright and television writer, best known for his award-winning work on the children's television series ''Sesame Street''.
Early life
...
rect 582 86 666 181 Marina Kaljurand
Marina Kaljurand (née Rajevskaja; born 6 September 1962) is an Estonian politician and Member of the European Parliament. Kaljurand served as Minister of Foreign Affairs in Taavi Rõivas' second cabinet as an independent. Earlier, she served as ...
rect 715 3 770 80 Bill Woodcock
Bill Woodcock (born August 16, 1971 in San Francisco, California, United States) is the executive director of Packet Clearing House, the international organization responsible for providing operational support and security to critical Internet ...
rect 715 81 773 181 Michael Chertoff
Michael Chertoff (born November 28, 1953) is an American attorney who was the second United States Secretary of Homeland Security to serve under President George W. Bush. Chertoff also served for one additional day under President Barack Obama. H ...
rect 672 29 714 115 Marietje Schaake
Maria Renske "Marietje" Schaake (; born 28 October 1978) is a Dutch politician who served as Member of the European Parliament (MEP) from the Netherlands between 2009 and 2019. She is a member of Democrats 66, part of the Alliance of Liberals a ...
rect 260 41 329 127 KHOO Boon Hui
Khoo Boon Hui (), born in 1954 in Singapore, is the Senior Deputy Secretary of the Ministry of Home Affairs. Mr Khoo Boon Hui succeeded Jackie Selebi and Arturo Verdugo (acting) as President of INTERPOL, from 2008 to 2012, and he was succeeded by ...
rect 329 104 401 195 Latha Reddy
rect 368 38 433 102 Chris Painter
rect 447 2 503 79 Olaf Kolkman
Olaf or Olav (, , or British ; Old Norse: ''Áleifr'', ''Ólafr'', ''Óleifr'', ''Anleifr'') is a Scandinavian and German given name. It is presumably of Proto-Norse origin, reconstructed as ''*Anu-laibaz'', from ''anu'' "ancestor, grand-father" a ...
rect 469 86 552 209 Frédérick Douzet
rect 772 28 809 96 Timo Koster
rect 811 53 856 130 Wolfgang Kleinwächter
rect 188 89 244 163 Alexander Klimburg
rect 45 7 109 112 Louk Faesen
rect 511 16 559 83 Phil Grabensee
rect 164 27 234 88 Anneleen Roggeman
desc none
Commissioners
*
Marina Kaljurand
Marina Kaljurand (née Rajevskaja; born 6 September 1962) is an Estonian politician and Member of the European Parliament. Kaljurand served as Minister of Foreign Affairs in Taavi Rõivas' second cabinet as an independent. Earlier, she served as ...
(Co-chair 2017-2018)
* Latha Reddy (Co-chair 2017-2019)
*
Michael Chertoff
Michael Chertoff (born November 28, 1953) is an American attorney who was the second United States Secretary of Homeland Security to serve under President George W. Bush. Chertoff also served for one additional day under President Barack Obama. H ...
(Co-chair 2019)
* Motohiro Tsuchiya
*
Joseph Nye
Joseph Samuel Nye Jr. (born January 19, 1937) is an American political scientist. He and Robert Keohane co-founded the international relations theory of neoliberalism, which they developed in their 1977 book ''Power and Interdependence''. Togethe ...
* Christopher Painter
*
Ilya Sachkov
*
Jeff Moss
Jeffrey Arnold "Jeff" Moss (June 19, 1942 – September 24, 1998) was an American composer, lyricist, playwright and television writer, best known for his award-winning work on the children's television series ''Sesame Street''.
Early life
...
*
Khoo Boon Hui
Khoo Boon Hui (), born in 1954 in Singapore, is the Senior Deputy Secretary of the Ministry of Home Affairs. Mr Khoo Boon Hui succeeded Jackie Selebi and Arturo Verdugo (acting) as President of INTERPOL, from 2008 to 2012, and he was succeeded by ...
*
Anriette Esterhuysen
* Xiadong Lee
* Abdul-Hakeem Ajijola
* Virgilio Almeida
*
Marietje Schaake
Maria Renske "Marietje" Schaake (; born 28 October 1978) is a Dutch politician who served as Member of the European Parliament (MEP) from the Netherlands between 2009 and 2019. She is a member of Democrats 66, part of the Alliance of Liberals a ...
*
Bill Woodcock
Bill Woodcock (born August 16, 1971 in San Francisco, California, United States) is the executive director of Packet Clearing House, the international organization responsible for providing operational support and security to critical Internet ...
* Wolfgang Kleinwächter
* Scott Charney
* Elina Noor
*
Isaac Ben-Israel
Isaac Ben-Israel ( he, יצחק בן ישראל, born 26 July 1949) is an Israeli military scientist, general, politician and state official. He currently serves as the chairman of the Israeli Space Agency and the National Council for Research ...
*
Jonathan Zittrain
Jonathan L. Zittrain (born December 24, 1969) is an American professor of Internet law and the George Bemis Professor of International Law at Harvard Law School. He is also a professor at the Harvard Kennedy School, a professor of computer sc ...
*
Nigel Inkster
Nigel Norman Inkster CMG (born April 1956)Excerpts availableat Google Books. is the former director of operations and intelligence for the British Secret Intelligence Service (SIS, also known as MI6), and was till June 2017 the Director of Transn ...
*
Jane Holl Lute
Jane Holl Lute (born 1956) is an American diplomat and security analyst currently serving as the UN special envoy on the Cyprus dispute. She served as the Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security from 2009 through 2013, after having been confirmed ...
* Samir Saran
Former commissioners
*
William Saito
* Wolff Heintschel von Heinegg
*
Sigrid Kaag
Sigrid Agnes Maria Kaag (; born 2 November 1961) is a Dutch diplomat and politician, serving as List of Ministers of Finance of the Netherlands, Minister of Finance and Deputy Prime Minister of the Netherlands, First Deputy Prime Minister in the ...
* Hugo Zylerberg
Research Advisory Group
* Sean Kanuck (Chair)
* Liis Vihul (Deputy Chair for Law)
* Marilia Maciel (Deputy Chair for Internet Governance)
* Hugo Zylberberg (Deputy Chair for International Peace & Security)
* Koichiro Komiyama (Deputy Chair for Technical and Information Security)
Secretariat
* Bruce McConnell (
EastWest Institute
The EastWest Institute (EWI), originally known as the Institute for East-West Security Studies and officially the Institute for EastWest Studies, Inc., was an international not-for-profit, non-partisan think tank focusing on international confli ...
)
* Alexander Klimburg (Hague Centre for Strategic Studies)
References
{{Reflist
External links
Official web site of the CommissionFinal report of the CommissionDefinition of the "Public Core" of the InternetReport of the GCSC Critical Infrastructure Assessment Working Group
Global policy organizations
International organisations based in the Netherlands
Internet governance
Internet governance organizations
Internet law
Internet security
Internet-related organizations
Internet ethics