On September 18, 2002, Richard Clarke, Special Advisor to the President for Cyberspace Security, announced A National Strategy To Secure Cyberspace Security at an event held at Stanford University. Mark Luker, Vice President of EDUCAUSE, delivered comments at the event on behalf of the higher education sector.

The National Strategy is the result of several weeks of study and solicited comments organized by the Presidents Critical Infrastructure Protection Board. An Executive Order on Critical Infrastructure Protection issued on October 16, 2001, created the Board. The Board developed several Questions To Be Addressed and solicited responses through participating organizations and a series of Town Hall Meetings. The questions encompassed the cybersecurity concerns of home users, businesses, federal agencies, state and local governments, international governments, and higher education in an effort to determine how deeply computers and information systems are integrated into our everyday lives and organizational operations.

The EDUCAUSE/Internet2 Computer and Network Security Task Force participated in the process by organizing an online survey in April 2002 to collect responses to the questions that concerned higher education. Over 100 responses were received and tabulated. EDUCAUSE staff also had numerous conversations during the spring and summer with Executive Branch agencies involved in drafting the report, including Board staff and the Critical Infrastructure Assurance Office in the U.S. Department of Commerce.

A Framework for Action, developed by the Security Task Force, was ratified by the American Council on Education and the remaining members of the Higher Education Information Technology Alliance in April 2002 and was presented to Richard Clarke when he addressed Networking2002. The Security Task Force later drafted and solicited comments to the Higher Education Contribution to the National Strategy To Secure Cyberspace, which was submitted to the Board in July 2002.

The Security Task Force is holding a series of Security Workshops funded by the National Science Foundation and will host open meetings at the Annual Conference of EDUCAUSE and Internet2 Fall Member Meeting to develop a consensus strategy for improving cyberspace security within higher education. The results of the workshops, meetings, and other Task Force initiatives will be broadly disseminated, including postings to the Security Discussion Group, summaries included in the electronic newsletter SECURITY NEWS, and information available from the Security Task Force Web site.

EDUCAUSE staff and members of the Security Task Force are reviewing the National Strategy and the recommendations for higher education. A summary of the items that pertain to higher education and analysis of the National Strategy will be available from this site in the next few days.

Discussion Forum

The National Strategy includes a number of recommendations for higher education and identifies issues for continued analysis, debate, and discussion. The President's Critical Infrastructure Protection Board invites comments sent via the feedback link at http://www.securecyberspace.gov. The EDUCAUSE/Internet2 Computer and Network Security Task Force has created a public Discussion Forum to collect comments on the recommendations and discussion items that pertain to the higher education community.

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