Beckstrom to head ICANN

World internet domain name sultanate ICANN  has formally chosen IT security guru Rod Beckstrom as its new chief executive to replace the retiring Paul Twomey. Many analysts wonder what kind of regulation a security czar will bring.

Rod Beckstrom, previously US National Cybersecurity Centre director, immediately put the spotlight on the Internet’s role in troubled Iran. The selection of Mr Beckstrom, whose appointment was first reported in The Australian, was finalised in Sydney this week where Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) officials are meeting.

Beckstrom said his first goal would be to meet with the many working groups and stakeholder tribes within ICANN. He also said that he planned to take a closer look at ICANN’s organisational plan to see what was “on track and what wasn’t on track.”

ICANN’s chairman Peter Thrush said Mr Beckstrom has “the strong personal and technical background that ICANN needs as we enter a period of unprecedented growth and change for the internet”. But it is not clear how security overrides tribe concers, a international names and country codes have emerged as new hotbeds of auction heat in the domain world.