KISA

Type:	Public
Industry:	Internet
Founded:	2009
Headquarters:	11F 398, Seochoro, Seocho-gu, Seoul, 137-875
Country:	South Korea
Website:	kisa.or.kr
Key People
Seo Jong Ryeol, Chairman Hee Jung Kim, President

KISA (Korea Internet & Security Agency) is a subsidiary organization of the South Korean Ministry of Information. It was created in April, 1996 to handle all the necessary policies to protect the safe distribution of information.

The agency manages the operations of the Korean Internet such as the IP addresses and the .kr country code top level domain. The agency also conducts research for the next generation Internet address resources of the country, and handles the administrative affairs of the Korean Internet address Dispute Resolution Committee.

KISA has been responsible for effectively responding to Internet infiltration incidents, vulnerability analysis and evaluation on key IT facilities, SPAM mail response & privacy promotion activities, electronic signature authentication, information protection industry support, development of information protection policy, as well as education and publicity.

On June 23, 2009, the Agency was merged with NIDA (National Internet Development Agency of Korea), and KIICA (Korea IT International Cooperation Agency).

Responsibilities

As the the manager of the operations of internet in Korea, KISA performs the following responsibilities:

1. Development of Internet related policy
2. Build and enhance the environment for the Internet society
3. Promote Internet usage in the country
4. Protects national internet infrastructure from hacking cyber-terror, spam and other malicious activities
5. Operate krCERT CC (Korea Computer Emergency Response Team Coordination Center) to improve Internet security in Korea
6. Support international organizations such as ITU and OECD, as well as assist the Korean IT companies

Significant Projects

KISA is an active participant of international organizations such as the World Summit in Information Society, a project endorsed by the UN General Assembly under the Resolution 56/183 to develop and promote a clear statement of political will and take concrete steps to establish the foundations for an Information Society for everybody, reflecting all the different interests at stake.

Some of the significant projects undertaken by KISA include:

1. Establishment of Sustainable Internet Environment by promoting the further application of IPv6, Future Internet, and revitalization of wireless internet for a secure internet environment. KISA expanded its IPv6 addresses from 32 bit to 128 bits and the agency is striving to overcome the problems and restrictions of the current internet structure in Korea.
2. The agency also partnered with Korea Communications Commission in the campaign for Self-Purification for Clean Internet Project, with the theme Making a Beautiful Internet World.
3. KISA is actively involved in the research and improvement of policies regarding the .kr domain name as well as to the annual meetings of the ICANN.
4. Protection of the Citizens Personal Information & Public Information from data leakages, abuse of personal information by providing i-PIN (Internet Personal Identification Number) and by setting personal information security standards.The agency also operates Personal information infringement and illegal SPAM call centers, and established a response system to minimize hacking.
5. KISA introduced and operated ISMS Certification Program to increase the level of information security level of organizations in the country and decrease the possibility of threats and damage in the Internet system.
6. The agency partnered with KCC to develop an Internet Information Security Plan to combat organized and professional cyber attacks

KISA and ICANN

In May, 2010, KISA submitted an application to ICANN under the IDN Fast Track Process to delegate the Korean string .한국 and be recognized as a ccTLD administrator. The string means "Korea" in the Hangul script and it is pronounced Hanguk when transliterated in English. The move was supported by the Korea Communications Commission and different groups within the Internet community.

On June 16th, 2010, the IDN Fast Track DNS Stability panel reviewed the KISA's application and found that the string has no threats to the security of the stability or security of DNS and presents a low risk of user confusion and, thus, approved the application. A special meeting of the ICANN Board approved the IDN delegation in January, 2011.

Internationalized Domain Name