Hopkins researchers take on computer-age security issues

[InfoSec News <isn () C4I ORG>]

http://www.baltimoresun.com/content/news/story?section=news-maryland-sun&pagename=story&storyid=1150520205066

By Michael Stroh
Sun Staff
Originally published Dec 3 2000

The Johns Hopkins University is launching a new $10 million research
center devoted to tackling one of the hottest problems of the digital
age: keeping information safe and secure.

The Information Security Institute, which will be officially announced
tomorrow, will study problems ranging from how companies can fend off
hackers to the legal, ethical and public policy ramifications of
making more information available in electronic form.

"These are issues that have taken center stage in our society over the
past decade and will only grow in importance as technology continues
to advance," said Dr. William R. Brody, president of the university.

The launch of the institute, which officials say was made possible
through the gift of an anonymous donor, comes as lapses in computer
and information security make headlines almost daily.

In recent months, for example, high-tech hooligans have plundered
proprietary software from Microsoft's computer networks. The
entertainment industry has been struggling to safeguard its music and
movies from teen-age pirates using file-sharing technologies such as
Napster. And the courts have been grappling with how to enforce U.S.
privacy and intellectual property law in borderless cyberspace.

High-tech hub

The establishment of the institute also comes at a good time for
Baltimore, which is trying to position itself as a high-tech hub with
its "Digital Harbor" campaign.

University officials believe the research center could help attract
technical talent, which experts say is needed to create a robust
high-tech industry, to the area. Research at the institute, officials
say, might also lead to novel spin-off businesses.

"This could be a very good partnership with the city of Baltimore,"

said Ilene Busch-Vishniac, dean of the Whiting School of Engineering
at Hopkins and one of the faculty members who helped create the new
institute.

Hopkins isn't the first university to establish a research center
devoted to information security. As security breaches mount, finding
new ways to foil high-tech intruders has become a hot line of research
at many schools. In fact, the university's Applied Physics Laboratory
in Laurel already conducts extensive security-related research.

But what makes this new institute unique, officials say, is that it
will be composed of 50 researchers drawn from nearly every corner of
the university.

Faculty from the engineering and computer science schools, for
example, will investigate technical defenses against online intruders.
Musicians at the Peabody Institute will tackle intellectual property
issues surrounding online music. Researchers at the medical schools
are interested in subjects such as electronic patient records.

Partnerships with business

Modeling the new institute on the Massachusetts Institute of
Technology's well-known Media Lab, university officials also plan to
take the unusual step of recruiting companies to act as research
partners.

While Hopkins officials said the details are still being worked out,
the plan is for companies to pay a fee for access to the center's
researchers, students and intellectual property. At MIT, companies
from Lego to Motorola pay a flat fee of more than $200,000 a year for
the privilege. Hopkins officials said the fee they charge will depend
on the size of the company.

"The partnerships provide focus. It ensures that what we are doing is
what industry needs. And there's no better way to get students or
faculty interested in a problem," says Busch-Vishniac.

Income from these partnerships, Hopkins officials said, will enable
them to hire an additional 30 researchers and perhaps open satellite
offices in Northern Virginia and New York, where many of the
e-commerce and financial companies that are likely to be interested in
information-security research are based.

New degree programs

The Information Security Institute will also offer new degree
programs, officials said. The courses, expected to start as early as
fall 2001, will blend disciplines from across the university.

"I think this will make our students enormously marketable," says
Gerald Masson, chairman of the university's computer science
department and the director of the new institute.

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