NCSC's Protocol Design Principles were published on the 1st of December 2020. This repository is a space to collect feedback and comments from the community.

Our blog introduces the principles and provides some context for the publication of the paper.

We welcome feedback – especially from protocol designers, network managers and product developers. You can create an issue or email the team at [email protected].

This white paper defines a set of design principles for protocols, created to address fundamental changes in internet use and the continually developing threat landscape. As threats and use cases evolve, internet protocols should too. The principles in this white paper put user needs at the heart of the design process to make sure that protocols provide functionality and security for users. This set of principles doesn’t attempt or claim to cover every aspect of protocol design, but it does cover some of the most vital issues.

• Summary

• Introduction

• Motivation

• Principle 1: Prioritise the use case

• Principle 2: Keep it simple

• Principle 3: Think about the bigger picture