The Network Time Protocol (NTP) is a venerable Internet protocol for synchronising time. It has been with us since at least 1985 as the most commonly used protocol for synchronising the time on computer systems. It enables devices connected to the Internet to maintain clock synchronisation with reliable time sources, such as the atomic clocks used to provide Netnod’s NTP service.

The Internet Society is pleased to see the publication of RFC 8915: Network Time Security for the Network Time Protocol by the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF).

The Internet Society’s Karen O’Donoghue, Director, Internet Trust and Technology, talks about the need for network time security and the challenges of getting a new protocol developed and deployed. Listen to the podcast.

As part of the IETF 108 virtual hackathon, representatives from several organizations and the Internet Society took part in the project on Network Time Security (NTS).

A lot of the Internet’s most important security tools are dependent on accurate time. But until recently there was no way to ensure that the time you were getting came from a trusted source.