Welcome

Increased dependence on computers has left our society critically vulnerable to security failure of the national information infrastructure. Experience reports and studies have shown that the most common reason for security failures is misunderstanding of the possible security threats to a system. Thus the most effective way to prevent security failures is to educate the users, administrators, and programmers of computer systems — in short, IT professionals — on the nature of these threats and the mechanisms to counteract them.

To enact such training, an intensive summer school on information assurance for college faculty is being introduced: the University of Minnesota Summer School for Information Assurance (UMSSIA). A series of lectures, hands-on lab exeriences, and curriculum development consultations will result in college faculty who have (i) a detailed understanding of the basic goals, mechanisms, and challenges in information assurance; (ii) experience with practical information assurance technologies; (iii) exposure to societal issues related to information assurance, such as privacy, copyright, and ethics; (iv) awareness of current research issues in information assurance; (v) an established network of regional instructors with interests in information assurance; (vi) a concrete curriculum plan to raise awareness of information assurance issues among students at their institution; and (vii) a “support system” at the University of Minnesota for implementing an information assurance curriculum.