The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) has appointed Rob Beckstrom, a former director of the US National Cybersecurity Center (NCSC), as its new president and chief executive officer.

Peter Dengate Thrush, chairman of ICANN, said: Rod Beckstrom has exactly the sort of strong personal and technical background that ICANN needs, as we enter a period of unprecedented growth and change for the Internet.

As NCSC director, Beckstrom formed a working group of leaders from the US’s top six cybersecurity centers spanning the civilian, military and intelligence communities.

In addition to his work at NCSC, Beckstrom also worked as the CEO of CATS Software and served on the board of trustees of the Environmental Defense Fund and the Jamii Bora Trust, a micro-lending group based in Nairobi, Kenya.

Beckstrom, said: The internet has changed the way the world communicates and conducts commerce. And in no small way, this multi-stakeholder, bottom-up organisation has been and will continue to be at the core of the internet’s on-going evolution. Quite simply, the proof that ICANN works, is that the internet works.