Acting Director
Ørnulf Storm
Department of Internet and security
The department is organized into two sections:
- The Section for Network Addresses and Digital Signatures is responsible for numbering management, internet addresses, domain names, digital signature, eCommerce and possible Internet regulation.
- The Section for Security in Networks is responsible for security features and emergency planning for public telecommunications networks, administration of the professional secrecy for players in the telecoms market, security clearance of personnel in the communications sector as well as internal security in the NPT.
The Section for Network Addresses and Digital Signatures
The areas of work cover:
- Number management
- Internet addresses
- Domain names
- Internet
- Digital signatures
The section is responsible for numbers, internet addresses and domain names. Number management covers a planned allocation of the limited resources that telephone numbers for fixed and mobile networks represent. Furthermore the section has extensive cooperation with the players in the market to ensure the most efficient use of the allocated resources. The section is also responsible for reporting on questions concerning access to the Internet in Norway, as well as related questions such as allocation of domain names, which in practice is currently carried out by Norid in agreement with the NPT. Monitoring of questions concerning digital signatures, where the NPT is the authority for qualified digital signatures, also forms part of the section’s area of work. It is also the section’s responsibility to keep up to date on national and international issues in the area, participate in national and international forums and working groups and to act as a link between the various players in the market.
Section for Security in Networks
The area of work encompasses, inter alia:
- ensuring essential users’ access to robust telecommunications services
- co-locate operators’ equipment in protected facilities, e.g. inside bunkers
- requirements for protection against physical threats and electromagnetic pulse (EMP)
- security clearance
- exemption from the postal and telecoms operators’ professional secrecy
The section has a focus on robustness in public telecommunications networks in order to ensure reliable and predictable services for users and institutions critical to society. This focus covers areas like:
- protection of critical elements in the telecommunications infrastructure
- priority mechanisms
- coordination of emergency prepardness planning and responses
- inter-operator emergency training
- spare infrastructure elements
The section is also the secretariat for the Total Defence Council for Security of Telecoms and Information Systems (TRSTI) which was established on 1 March 1998. In accordance with its mandate, TRSTI is to provide advice to the Ministry of Transport and Communications on telecoms security and contingency planning issue. Willy Jensen, Director General of the NPT, is the Head of the Council.