Outreach

The Information Assurance Center faculty members are involved in numerous outreach activities including teaching tutorials and short courses for conferences and local audiences. Outreach is a corner stone of our mission. According to the latest national Plan for Information Systems Protection released in January of 2000, “defending America’s cyberspace will require action by all America-business leaders, education, and other private sector institutions, the government, and ultimately the general public. A foundation for the many actions outlined in the National Plan for Information Systems protection is the understanding and awareness of the new threats posed to our information systems and the need for actions.” The Center continues to create and offer tutorials and short courses in addition to helping local government and business address the security issues.

ISEAGE
We have started to develop the Internet-Scale Event and Attack generation Environment (ISEAGE) (pronounced “ice age”) at the IAC. The goal of ISEAGE is to provide a world-class research and education facility to enhance the current state of the art in information assurance. Dedicated to creating a virtual Internet for the purpose of researching, designing, and testing cyber defense mechanisms, the proposed one-of-a-kind facility will be the catalyst for bringing together top researchers from several disciplines for a common goal of making computing safer. Unlike computer-based simulations, real attacks will be played out against real equipment. The ISEAGE will also be used to test key components of the critical infrastructure.

Many researchers and vendors are working hard to provide products and services to help defend against cyber attacks. Users of these technologies often do not have any mechanisms to test or even try out these defenses. Researchers and vendors need a facility to test ideas against real-world attacks. The ISEAGE will provide a controlled environment where real-world attacks can be played out against different configurations of equipment. It will contain a vast warehouse of attack tools that will be able to simulate point-to-point and distributed attacks against test configurations.

ISEAGE will provide an integrated environment for them to work on synergistic research projects in information assurance. The information assurance research work at Iowa State deals with overlapping problems and can benefit from a common laboratory. For example, the group working in intrusion detection and the group working in survivable networks often utilize the same attack data and are concerned about the same types of attacks. The proposed laboratory is a critical element needed to elevate research efforts and help provide solutions to these complex problems. We have already had numerous discussions with government agencies, business, and industry about the potential benefits of the laboratory.

Funding for this lab will come from several sources including industry as well as the federal and state government. We have received $30,000 from John Deere to help support the initial design of the lab. National Institute of Justice will be providing $500,000 in funding for the lab. We are working with state leaders to obtain matching money and the lab has been included in the State of Iowa Homeland Security plan. Our goal is to raise $1 million for the lab during 2003 and to have the first phase of it operational by 2004.

Security Education Awareness Program
The information assurance center has taken on the role of developing and maintaining a web site to provide security education to the members of the ISU community and others. Security education is a critical component to providing overall security and safety of the computing environment.

Cyber Crime Laboratory
Iowa Criminalistics Laboratory (ICL) recently lost its computer forensics expert to private industry and, due to state budget shortfalls and labor-pool deficits, does not expect to re-staff the position. As a result, the ICL no longer accepts suspected evidence of computer crime from Iowa’s law enforcement agencies for analysis. Instead, ICL personnel refer local law enforcement agencies to certified computer forensic investigators. However, Iowa has few such experts. As a result, Iowa’s rural communities face the problem of finding qualified computer forensics analysts to investigate local computer crime. Iowa State University’s Department of Public Safety (DPS), Information Assurance Center (IAC), and Midwest Forensics Resource Center (MFRC) propose to coordinate their existing resources to establish a computer crime investigation effort. The participants include the DPS’s computer crime investigator, senior faculty and students from the IAC, researchers from the MFRC, and MFRC crime laboratory partners. The effort will not only help law enforcement but will provide a resource for business and industry if they experience a cyber incident.

Graduate Certificate Program
The Information Assurance Certificate Program provides an opportunity for students to receive in depth education in information assurance. The certificate is offered through distance education, NTU, and to students on the ISU campus. The certificate consists of 4 courses. Students can receive the certificate in 9 months by taking two courses a semester. The courses are: CprE 530 Advanced Networking, CprE 531 Computer Security, CprE 532 Information Warfare, and CprE 533 Cryptography.

Our target audience is students who have a BS in Computer Science, Computer Engineering or a closely related field. Students can receive the course locally via the ISU distance education program or through NTU. The delivery will consist of video taped lectures and on-line support through chat rooms, emails, and phone. Several of the courses offer a hands-on learning experience where the students will be able to perform experiments and use software remotely through the Internet. The ISU faculty members offering these courses have over a decade of experience in distance education and the courses have been designed with distance education in mind. Additional information can be found at www.ede.iastate.edu

Security Club
The Information Assurance Center is sponsoring the Information Assurance Student Group. This is a student-based organization committed to furthering education in the areas of information assurance. The mission shall be accomplished by providing services and support to members to allow for further learning in the techniques and methods used in modern information systems security