Q&A: Internet Encryption As The New Normal

The era of encrypted communications may have finally arrived. The Internet Architecture Board (IAB), which oversees the Internet's architecture, protocols, and standards efforts, officially called last month for encryption to be deployed throughout the protocol stack as a way to lock down the privacy and security of information exchange.

It was a bold and important statement from the IAB, and it likely will be the general blueprint for new protocol efforts by the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF), which creates the protocol specifications that run the Internet and devices and systems connected to it. "The IAB now believes it is important for protocol designers, developers, and operators to make encryption the norm for Internet traffic," IAB chairman Russ Housley wrote in its Statement on Internet Confidentiality.

The IAB also urged developers to deploy encryption by default, and it urged network and service providers to add encryption across the board.

In his first interview since issuing the IAB statement Nov. 14, Housley spoke with me about the new normal of widespread, encrypted Internet communications.

Read the rest of the Q&A at Dark Reading.