Cybersecurity: Think Globally, Act Locally Dr. Peter Freeman NSF Assistant Director for CISE Educause Net2003 April 30, 2003

2 Agenda The Problem National Initiatives NSF’s Cyber Trust Initiative Current activities Plans

3 Assumptions Insufficient investment in cybersecurity by public and private bodies Few top scholars and students in the field Approaches to cybersecurity unchanged for decades –From Congressman Boehlert’s speech to ITAA, 3/27/2003

4 Responses A few academic and industrial efforts prior to 2001 The National Strategy to Secure Cyberspace Cyber Security R&D Act of 2002 NSF’s Cyber Trust Initiative

5 Cyber Trust Vision A society in which: People can justifiably rely on computer-based systems to perform critical functions –national scale infrastructures: water, power, communication, transportation,... –localized systems: cars, homes,... People can justifiably rely on systems processing sensitive information about them to conform to public policy –health, banking, libraries, e-commerce, government records Without fear of sudden disruption by cyber attacks

6 Background NSF has been funding basic research on IT security for many years (about $11M in 1999) The need became more critical with the rapid growth in the use of the Internet Vulnerability of these systems was highlighted by several disastrous attacks on the Internet and e- commerce in Trusted systems program announced 9/05/2001

7 National Cybersecurity Needs (aka Cyber Trust) Awareness: inform the public and decision makers; general education Make the current systems less vulnerable/more resilient Increase supply of appropriate technical personnel Provide for stronger future infrastructure Change practice

8 NSF’s CyberTrust Initiative NSF’s coordinated effort for research and education in Security Reliability Privacy, etc. Essentially, all the attributes so that a computing, communication, or information system can be trusted.

9 Implementation Research and education programs established: –Trusted Computing, FY ‘02 –Data & Application Security, FY ‘03 –Network Security, FY ‘03 –Embedded and Hybrid Systems (Security of computing & control hardware), FY ‘02 ITR High Confidence Software & Systems component used for diversified modes of support for cybersecurity, FY ‘03 “Scholarship for Services” for traineeship, FY 01

10 Planned Actions Meeting of all relevant PI’s this summer (Aug 11-12) Adding to research funds Increasing dedicated internal resources Exploring best means to integrate technical, policy, and management efforts (tent. Sept) Exploring how to increase the supply of cybersecurity personnel (tent. Oct)

11 Conclusions Long-term research needed in addition to short-term fixes Top scholars and students are being increasingly attracted to the field Campus computing operations can be test- beds and early adopters Local action by you is essential National initiatives can only encourage and show the way; real progress can only be made locally.

Dr. Peter A. Freeman NSF Assistant Director for CISE Phone: Visit the NSF Web site at:

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