http://europa.eu.int/rapid/start/cgi/guesten.ksh?p_action.gettxt=gt&do
c=SPEECH/99/122|0|RAPID&lg=EN
CUT ---
Speech by Mr Erkki LIIKANEN Member of the European Commission for
Enterprise and Information Society Trust and Security in Electronic
Communications : The European Approach Information Security Solutions
Europe (ISSE 99)Welcome Address Berlin, 4 October 1999
DN: SPEECH/99/122 Date: 1999-10-05
TXT: EN
PDF: EN
Word Processed: EN
SPEECH/99/122
Speech by Mr Erkki LIIKANEN
Member of the European Commission for Enterprise and Information
Society
Trust and Security in Electronic Communications : The European
Approach
Information Security Solutions Europe (ISSE 99) Welcome Address
Berlin, 4 October 1999
1. INTRODUCTION
Ladies and gentlemen,
To start with, I would like to congratulate The European Forum for
Electronic Business and Teletrust for organising this conference. A
comprehensive European event on security held on a yearly basis was
much needed in Europe. I therefore wish that ISSE will become a major
event in Europe when it comes to discussing information security
issues, not only amongst the converted, but also, and hopefully
increasingly, the laymen.
The very launch of this event, and the broad audience it attracted on
its first edition, already demonstrates a few things:
First, that there is a growing interest for information security
issues in Europe. This is a direct result of the rapid growth of the
Internet and electronic commerce in Europe. The latter is good news
for Europe considering the growing importance of the networked
economy in terms of growth and employment.
Second, that European Union policies have been successful. I don't
mean to take all the credit for the take-up of the Internet and
electronic commerce in Europe especially since our conviction is that
the development of the information society must, and can only be
market-led. Yet it is clear that the liberalisation of
telecommunications in the Union has created the right conditions for
the expansion of the Internet and electronic commerce.
2. WHY IS CRYPTOGRAPHY SO IMPORTANT?
Cryptographic technologies are at the heart of information security.
A few years ago, cryptography was still an arcane topic restricted to
a closed circle of people in the known. It is only recently, with the
growth of the Internet, that cryptography and on-line security has
made it to the headlines.
Why? Simply because cryptography is the preferred, if not only, means
to ensure authenticity and confidentiality in electronic
communications. Without it, there will be no safe electronic
communications.
The bottom line is: no security, no trust, no notable shift towards
commercial and financial transactions on the Internet! And all the
impressive forecasts we have seen regarding the growth of electronic
commerce will remain pie in the sky.
With close to 200 million Internet users, there is already, today, a
strong market basis for security products and services. This is
clearly indicated by the multiplication and the impressive growth
figures of cryptographic companies. For the time being, the security
market largely remains a corporate one. This is no surprise since
business-to-business activities carried out over proprietary networks
still account for over 85% of the total electronic commerce market.
But the security market will only really explode once it becomes a
mass market.
The odds are, that the Internet will be everywhere in Europe in a
matter of five years or so. We can expect half of the European
population to be hooked on the Internet by 2005. Not only that there
will be a computer connected to the Internet in half of Europe's
homes. But access terminals become increasingly diversified and
include, not only the computer, but increasingly the digital TV set-
top box, the personal assistant or the mobile phone, and very soon
cars and even home appliances.
But then again, who will routinely shop on-line if the credit card
number cannot be transmitted safely? If there is no guarantee that
the orders placed will be not fed into a marketing database to create
a highly detailed buyer's profile?
The same applies to simply surfing the Net. For how much longer will
Internauts accept to leave footprints on every Web site they visit,
allowing outsiders to track down their every move and interest? How
many people will be discouraged from getting on-line by the fear of
loosing their privacy?
This means that all along the chain of Internet services, there is an
essential need for security features.
Since the technology is there, this doesn't seem to be a problem,
only a breath-taking business opportunity for the cryptographic
industry. But actually no! The situation can be compared to
telecommunications services in Europe: Their growth is directly
linked to the
