The Unique Challenges of Rolling Out a PKI in the U.W. Academic Environment Nicholas A. Davis

Overview Eric Norman spoke about how the U.W. has protected its top level Root CA. Nick will speak about the challenges associated with bringing production quality PKI functionality to the U.W. academic environment.

Agenda Nick’s background with PKI and associated Public Key technologies. The U.W. end user environment The Requirements gathering process The specific PKI issues we are facing at the U.W. Our goals Q&A

Nick’s Background with PKI Spent the last 3 years as the PKI Administrator, E- Business Server (McAfee PGP) Administrator, and Remote User Authentication Administrator at American Family Insurance Very familiar with Entrust Managed the PKI needs of 6000 corporate users Joined U.W. Division of Information Technology in April 2004 as PKI Program Manager

The U.W. End User Environment OS Environment at the U.W. is the opposite of my corporate experience. To use the term “varied” is an understatement. Windows 95, 98, ME, 2000, XP and of course, a smattering of Windows 3.1, Macintosh of all flavors, Linux, OS/2, Free BSD, and others Administration is highly decentralized. User skill level is highly varied User degree of devotion to their OS and associated applications fills the entire spectrum from passive to fanatical

The Requirements Gathering Process Why bother with requirements gathering? –“The customer knows best” –Helps to educate our potential user community. –Gives them a sense of having true involvement with the end product –Gives us clear, stated milestones to assist us in rolling out our PKI –Last but not least, helps to settle internal PKI team debate

The Requirements Gathering Process (Continued) Our requirements gathering process is made of: –Education –“Advertising” the virtues of PKI to the user community –Soliciting input from our “customers” in the form of both closed and open ended questions –Formulating a results “summary” and “next steps” document for management consideration

The Specific PKI Issues We Are Facing at the U.W. “To sign or not to sign?” – that is the first question Will we focus on server certificates, user certificates, or both? What will the certificates be used for? Authentication, Signing, Encryption, VPN, securing websites? Who do the end user certificates belong to? Will we perform Private Key Escrow? How will the system be administered and how will end user needs be managed? What Operating Systems and Applications will we support?

Our Goals Most importantly, a PKI which is endorsed by users on campus, widely used and meets end user needs. –In order to meet these goals, the PKI MUST be: Secure, at least to industry standards Manageable Compatible with the needs and desires of end users Flexible At a tolerable dollar cost for the U.W.

All questions and suggestions are welcome! Thank You! Nicholas A. Davis