Afilias, the world’s second largest domain name registry, has joined the Management Board of the Global Commission on the Stability of Cyberspace (GCSC). The GCSC, setup in 2017, helps to promote the peaceful use of cyberspace to facilitate economic growth and the expansion of individual freedoms. Other Board members include the Ministries of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands and France, the Cyber Security Agency of Singapore, Microsoft Corporation, and the Internet Society (ISOC).

The GCSC develops proposals for norms and policies to enhance international security and stability and guide responsible state and non-state behavior in cyberspace. The GCSC engages a wide range of stakeholders to develop shared understandings, and its work is designed to advance cyber stability by supporting information exchange and capacity building, basic research, and advocacy.

“Afilias is proud to support the Global Commission on the Stability of Cyberspace,” said Ram Mohan, EVP and CTO of Afilias. “As the technology provider for some of the internet’s most important and highly used top-level domains (TLDs), we deal daily with irresponsible cyber-behavior and use advanced methods to ensure TLDs in our care are safe and reliable. Creating trust on the internet is a collective global responsibility, and we are pleased to advance the work of the GCSC to maintain trust and stability in cyberspace.

Afilias’ expertise and contributions will help facilitate the work, operations and research of the Commission to achieve a mission of stability in cyberspace. Since 2001, Afilias has provided technical infrastructure to maintain the master databases and publish the addressing information for TLDs, including .info, .org and country code TLDs such as (.in) India and (.au) Australia. Afilias provides several services to protect and secure the internet, and members of the company are involved in established internet security and governance groups.

“The GCSC would like to recognize and acknowledge Afilias for its generous support,” said Alexander Klimburg of The Hague Centre for Strategic Studies (HCSS) which has undertaken the GCSC initiative. “Afilias brings important technical and operational experience as well as a commitment to advancing the debate and to putting forward creative solutions to some of the most pressing challenges in the stability of cyberspace. The partnership expands the scope of the GCSC ecosystem to include a crucial stakeholder.”