NLnet; Internet Hardening Fund

<!DOCTYPE html> <html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en"> <head> <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8"/><meta charset="utf-8" /><meta http-equiv="X-UA-Compatible" content="IE=edge" /><meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1" /><meta name="theme-color" content="#ffffff" /><meta name="robots" content="index,follow" /><link rel="shortcut icon" href="/favicon.ico" /><link rel="icon" type="image/x-icon" href="/favicon.ico" /><link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="/nlnet.css" media="screen, projection" /><link rel="alternate" type="application/atom+xml" title="NLnet News" href="/feed.atom" /><title>NLnet; Internet Hardening Fund</title> </head> <body class="support" id="topofpage"> <div class="notice"><a href="#main" class="skip">To main content</a><div class="container"> <div class="row"> <div class="col12" id="call_banner"><strong><span><a href="/news/2025/20250401-call.html">Send in your ideas. 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But the internet was never properly architected for such a critical global role. Its original protocols and designs have major security shortcomings in their designs, which are actively being exploited at an increasing scale.</p> <p>Many benefits of the internet have materialised for its users despite of this- as witnessed by everyday usage of the internet by billions of people. But at the same time fundamental design issues come up again and again, showing the need for a structural solution if we want to continue and grow those benefits. As a technical community we need to revisit the security and privacy properties of the underpinning standards, and after that we need to make sure that those standards are actually deployed.</p> <p>The problem with bad security architecture at the scale of the internet is that it really cannot be contained or managed well: anyone that finds some backdoor can equally abuse it - leaving the door open to large scale crime, state level actors aiming at societal disruption, commercial abuse and even just plain accidents that cascade out of control. As the IETF has put it: "the internet is under technical attack". The <strong>Internet Hardening Fund</strong> is aimed at funding its defense - its security, reliability, scalability and real-time behaviour.</p> <p>We believe that the future of the internet <strong>can</strong> be rewritten - chapter by chapter, standard by standard. It is a safely re-engineered internet of tomorrow people want and deserve, rather the internet of today that cannot fulfill its promises.</p> <p><strong>The Internet Hardening Fund has concluded up and no new proposals are accepted, although we still feel work in this area is still very much needed. If you are looking for funding, do have a look at our other <a href="/propose">funding programmes</a> and <a href="/themes">theme funds</a>. If you are a potential donor: please <a href="/contact">contact us</a> or <a href="/donating">donate</a> directly if you can. </strong></p> <h2>Projects and activities within this theme</h2> <ul class="pointer"> <li><a href="/project/Steamworks">ARPA2 Steamworks</a></li> <li><a href="/project/Certbot-ECDSA">Certbot ECDSA support</a></li> <li><a href="/project/webservicesecurity">Declarative Web Service security</a></li> <li><a href="/project/Namecoin-TLS">Namecoin: TLS</a></li> <li><a href="/project/arpa2-gnutls">GnuTLS</a></li> <li><a href="/project/dime">DIME</a></li> <li><a href="/project/getdns">GetDNS</a></li> <li><a href="/project/gun">GUN P2P Encryption</a></li> <li><a href="/project/keymanagement">Key Management</a></li> <li><a href="/project/lib25519">lib25519: Secure and efficient computation of X25519 and Ed25519</a></li> <li><a href="/project/namecoin">Namecoin</a></li> <li><a href="/project/nftables-xfrm">Faster and configurable datapath/Linux xfrm</a></li> <li><a href="/project/pitchfork">Pitchfork</a></li> <li><a href="/project/pitchfork-pkcs">Pitchfork PKCS#11</a></li> <li><a href="/project/redwax">Modular CA</a></li> <li><a href="/project/remotePKCS11">Remote PKCS#11</a></li> <li><a href="/project/secushare">SecuShare</a></li> <li><a href="/project/secushare-box">Secushare Box</a></li> <li><a href="/project/spake2">Magic Wormhole/SPAKE2</a></li> <li><a href="/project/stubby">Stubby</a></li> <li><a href="/project/tls-kdh">TLS-KDH</a></li> <li><a href="/project/vita">Vita</a></li> <li><a href="/project/wireguard">WireGuard</a></li> <li><a href="/project/wpia">WPIA CA Infrastructure</a></li> </ul> <h2>External Review Committee</h2> <p>The Internet Hardening Fund is maintained by NLnet foundation. A separate <a href="/internethardening/reviewcommittee">Review Committee</a> made up of independent experts validates the project selection.</p> <h3>You may also be interested in ...</h3> <ul class="pointer"> <li><a href="/project/arpa2">ARPA2</a>, a comprehensive project addressing many aspects of internet hardening</li> <li><a href="/project/cerowrt/">CeroWRT</a>, an experimental firmware pushing forward the state of the art of edge networks and routers</li> <li><a href="/project/rpki-rtrlib">RPKI-RTRlib</a>, improving the security of routing</li> <li><a href="https://nlnetlabs.nl">NLnet Labs</a>, a world renowned internet research lab addressing fundamental issue</li> <li><a href="/NGI0">NGI Zero</a></li> </ul> </div> <div class="col4 reorder"> <div class="part"> <h3>Search</h3> <form onsubmit="/js/searchbutton.js" method="get" accept-charset="UTF-8" action="/search/static.html" class="sitesearch"><input id="searsia-input" type="text" name="q" class="form-control" value="" autocomplete="off" /><label for="searsia-input"><span class="hide">Search</span></label><input type="submit" id="searsiasubmit" name="submit" value="Search" /><label for="searsiasubmit"><span class="hide">Submit search</span></label></form> </div> <div> <p class="box marge"> <h5>Currently open for proposals:</h5> </p> <ul class="pointer"> <li><a href="/commonsfund/">NGI0 Commons Fund</a></li> <li><a href="/taler/">NGI TALER</a></li> <li><a href="/mobifree/">NGI Mobifree</a></li> <li><a href="/fediversity/">NGI Fediversity</a></li> </ul> <div><a href="/foundation/jobs/regionalrepresentative.html" class="part part_link part_green"><img src="/image/git-merge-2.svg" width="40" height="40" alt="git merge icon" /> <h5 class="color_white">Job openings</h5> <font color="white">NGI Zero is looking for Regional Representatives.</font> </a></div> <div><a href="https://podcast.nlnet.nl/@NGIZero" class="part part_link part_blue"><img src="/image/ic_antenna_white.svg" width="40" height="40" alt="podcast logo, antenna with radio waves" /> <h5 class="color_white">Listen to our podcast</h5> <font color="white">Conversations with people building the Next Generation Internet</font> </a></div>  </div> <div class="part"> <h3>Events</h3> <p class="h-event"><a href="/events/20250201/FOSDEM/index.html"><span class="dt-start dt-end">2025-02-01</span> - <span class="p-name">Let's meet at FOSDEM 2025</span></a></p> <p class="h-event"><a href="/events/20241227/38C3/index.html"><span class="dt-start dt-end">2024-12-27</span> - <span class="p-name">38C3 Here We Come!</span></a></p> <p class="h-event"><a href="/events/20241128/index.html"><span class="dt-start dt-end">2024-11-28</span> - <span class="p-name">Webinar: Ask Us For Help: Practical Support for NGI Beneficiaries</span></a></p> <ul class="pointer"> <li><a href="/webinars">Upcoming webinars & recordings</a></li> <li><a href="/events">Event archive</a></li> </ul> </div> <div class="part"> <h3>News</h3> <p><a href="/news/2025/20250401-call.html">Apply for funding before June 1st 2025</a> 2025-04-01</p> <p><a href="/news/2025/20250321-call-announcement-core.html">56 Projects Receive Grants for Improving Core Technological Building Blocks</a> 2025-03-21</p> <p><a href="/news/2025/20250201-call.html">Apply for funding before April 1st 2025</a> 2025-02-01</p> <p><a href="/news/2025/20250122-project-selection-pilots.html">Seven New Projects Selected to Strengthen the NGI Pilot Programmes</a> 2025-01-22</p> <p><a href="/news/2025/20250120-FOSDEM-talk-Michiel.html">Michiel Leenaars Speaks at FOSDEM about NGI and Europe's Digital Sovereignty</a> 2025-01-20</p> <ul class="pointer"> <li><a href="/news">More news</a></li> </ul> </div> <div><a href="/help" class="part part_link part_green"><img src="/image/ic_hand.svg" alt="" /><h5 class="color_white">Want to help?</h5>Help us by protecting open source and its users with 5 minutes of your time. </a></div> <div><a href="/donating/" class="part part_link part_blue"><img src="/image/ic_flower.svg" alt="icon of a flower" /><h5 class="color_white">Donate today</h5>Your donation can help grow the future! 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NLnet; Internet Hardening Fund