BIG DATA

Grant awarded to support the Internet2 community's work on network security issues: This week, the Internet2 Computer Security Incidents-Internet2 Working Group (CSI2) hosts its first workshop in support of a grant awarded by the Office of Justice Programs of the Department of Justice (DOJ) to facilitate the development of new methodologies and technologies that can better anticipate and resolve network security issues affecting high-performance backbone networks, campus networks, and individual computers. To date, no formal communication mechanisms have been developed to allow network providers with common interests but perhaps no business relationship to work collaboratively to solve security problems together. Leveraging important technologies developed within the Internet2 community, like those in middleware, the CSI2 hopes to create a formal platform that will enable secure and standardized methods for sharing and storing preventative network security information to limit the scope of network attacks through early detection and rapid response. "Proprietary business issues have been a major hurdle in creating standard security practices. But just as our nation's physical assets have response protocols in the event of an attack, our nation's information networks need to have similar protocols that are common and consistent across organizational boundaries in order to prevent a security attack from becoming a major security incident," said Christopher Misra, network analyst at the University of Massachusetts and chair of the CSI2 Working Group. "Through this grant, the CSI2 hopes to extend its ongoing work to create a framework that will set the standard for inter-institutional security collaboration to reduce national network vulnerabilities and minimize damage from potential cyber-attacks." The initial DOJ funding will bring together several noted security experts who will lead workshops, like the one held this week, and other information gathering sessions to understand the research and education community's unique security requirements, which are not easily accommodated in current approaches to network security. In doing so, the group will focus efforts on initial improvements in: the identification of security incidents within and between networks; the creation of an inventory of existing security tools and their data output; existing communication practices between different locations; and the retention, anonymization, and policy boundaries related to current security data practices. As a result, the working group envisions the development of several technologies, including: a repository for security data, tools and diagnostics so that institutions will be better equipped to solve problems as they occur; protocols and practices for authenticated real-time communications during security events to provide ongoing support for network personnel; identification of benchmark security preparation strategy and tactics; and the creation of a standardized secure platform for event notification and information sharing to help avert widespread cybersecurity disasters. "We believe the important work being pioneered by our community through this grant will help enhance scientific, academic, and research collaborations that have to date been hindered by campus-specific security restrictions," said Misra. "Eventually, we hope this work will serve as a model for commercial Internet providers, government agencies, and major businesses who also face major security challenges on a day to day basis." The DOJ grant was facilitated through Internet2's government relations program which seeks to create an open forum for dialogue and development between the education technology community and the federal government to encourage new innovation and collaboration. Internet2 supports members' research partnerships and grants by identifying funding opportunities, providing consultation on member proposals to government funding agencies; and writing letters of support which illustrate the advances in network research that Internet2 member projects are likely to achieve. Over the past three years, Internet2's overall inventory of externally funded research activity has grown in size from 4 to 22 funded proposals. This has been accomplished despite growing challenges in the federal research funding arena. The CSI2 Workshop is being held in Cambridge, Mass on March 5-6, 2007. For more information, visit: its Web site