China Regulator Wants Internet Security Plans By End-Feb
BEIJING -(Dow Jones)- China's information industry regulator has asked
government offices, companies and other organizations involved in the business
or oversight of Internet addresses to submit plans by the end of the month
detailing their efforts protect the domain name system, in another sign of
Beijing's tightening control over the Internet.
China must strengthen the security of its domain name system and step up
efforts to combat "external network attacks, domain name hijacking and other
threats," according to a directive dated Jan. 30 but posted Monday on the Web
site of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.
A domain name is a means of identifying a location on the World Wide Web.
The directive, which has a deadline of Feb. 28, was issued to government
telecommunications bureaus, the country's three big state-controlled
telecommunications firms--China Mobile Communications Corp., China
Telecommunications Corp. and China Unicom Group--as well organizations involved
in telecommunications research and domain name registration services in China.
China has been tightening its control over the Internet, especially after the
discovery of a series of cyber attacks that appear to have originated in the
country and as U.S. Internet giant Google Inc. (GOOG) is considering whether to
pull out of China, partly because of Internet security issues.
In December, the China Internet Network Information Center, known as CNNIC, a
semi-official office that administers China's domain names, said all new
registrants of domain-names with China's ".cn" suffix are required to show proof
they are a government-registered business or organization, effectively making it
harder for individuals to set up domestic Web sites.
-By J.R. Wu, Dow Jones Newswires; (8610) 8400-7711; jr.wu@dowjones.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
02-08-102102ET
Copyright (c) 2010 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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