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Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Message-Id: <v04020a04b45a2187efbe@[18.177.0.74]> Date: Thu, 18 Nov 1999 16:35:32 -0500 To: itlt@mit.edu, magellan@mit.edu From: Greg Anderson <ganderso@MIT.EDU> Cc: jis@mit.edu Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit FYI - a highlight for MIT & IS! Greg >From: "Greg Wood" <ghwood@internet2.edu> >To: <i2-news@internet2.edu> >Subject: I2-NEWS: CREN and MIT Announce Certificate Authority Service >Date: Thu, 18 Nov 1999 09:13:54 -0500 >Mime-Version: 1.0 >X-Priority: 3 (Normal) >Importance: Normal >Reply-To: i2-news@internet2.edu >Sender: owner-i2-news@internet2.edu > >New service enables secure resource-sharing among institutions and providers >over Internet > >Service facilitates access in support of teaching and research > > >For Immediate Release >Contact: David Hogarth, MIT Information Systems > 617-253-1514; <davidh@mit.edu> >OR Dr. Judith Boettcher, CREN > 202-331-5366; <jboettch@cren.net> > >CAMBRIDGE, MA, November 17, 1999 -- Today, the Corporation for Research and >Educational Networking (CREN) and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology >(MIT) are announcing a significant development in Internet technology >service that supports secure resource-sharing among institutions. The two >organizations are launching a new, top-level Certificate Authority Service >offered to institutions of higher education by CREN, with MIT’s technical >support, which reviews, validates, and issues digital certificates that >campuses use for secure transactions over the network. > > In making the announcement, Ira Fuchs, President and CEO of CREN, >as well >as Vice President for Computing and Information Technology at Princeton, >said, “I am delighted that CREN is taking a leadership role in launching >this service today. Supporting resource-sharing among institutions of >higher education will enable students, faculty, and staff to make >significant advances in their teaching and research over the Internet.” >An essential part of the current infrastructure for conducting secure >transactions over the World Wide Web, digital certificates verify both the >authenticity of the sender of an electronic message and the integrity of >that message, signaling to the recipient that it has not been altered. > >Serving as the trusted third-party for institutions and resource providers, >the new certificate authority service will issue institutional certificates, >allowing individuals at CREN subscriber institutions to share online >information and electronic resources in a cryptographically secure >environment. By digitally signing the certificates issued by campus >authorities, the service eliminates the need for each organization to >establish secure relationships with every other institution on a >case-by-case basis. Users at different institutions will be able to >automatically verify the authenticity of the certificates they receive from >each other’s sites, simply by configuring their browser software for CREN’s >top-level certificate authority. This will facilitate inter-institutional >relationships and support authenticated access to online information >resources such as specialized databases and digital information resources. >The service was developed at MIT, which served as one of three pilot >institutions, along with Georgia Institute of Technology and Princeton >University. > >To initiate the new certificate authority service, network security expert >Jeff Schiller, Manager of Network Services at MIT and principal architect of >this service, will generate an initial CREN “key” or root certificate, “cut” >a private key, and generate one institutional certificate for each of the >three pilot institutions. Once an institution has completed a process of >authority registration with CREN, MIT will handle the certificate issuance >process, reviewing each request for a certificate and then, if valid, >issuing another certificate to the institution. In addition to providing the >technical operations for the service, MIT’s Network Operations Team is also >developing software to automate the technically painstaking process which >involves numerous steps for the proper exchange of certificates and >activation of hardware. > >MIT’s Assistant Provost and Director of Academic Computing, M.S. Vijay Kumar >commented, “Extending the concept of secure transactions from within >institutions to across institutions, the CREN certificate authority takes us >one step closer to building and accessing a richer repository of shared >resources and collaborations.” > >One content provider who will be using the new service is the Journal >Storage Project or JSTOR, a not-for-profit organization that is building a >searchable digital database with the complete backfiles of academic >journals. Spencer Thomas, JSTOR’s Technical Coordinator, said, “As a >trusted member of the academic community, CREN offers a reliable and >affordable solution for authorizing digital certificates. Providing remote >access to scholarly resources is one of the more vexing problems facing both >users and providers of electronic information at colleges and universities. >JSTOR is extremely pleased to participate in this important initiative.” > >Another endorsement of the service came from Ken Klingenstein, Director of >Information Technology Services, University of Colorado at Boulder, and >Middleware Project Director of UCAID (University Corporation for Advanced >Internet Development), the organization responsible for Internet2. “This is >an important step towards building a national interoperable higher education >security infrastructure,” stated Klingenstein. “With the CREN certificate >authority mechanism as an anchor, we can begin the substantive work of >establishing trust relationships within our community and enabling new >institutional resource-sharing. Many agendas will be advanced with this >deployment.” > > >About CREN: Established in 1984, CREN is a non-profit member organization >that supports the technical and practical information needs and tools of >networking and information technology professionals. Current members number >over 225, and range from small, private institutions such as Smith College >to large public institutions such as the University of Wisconsin. >URL: http://www.cren.net. > >About MIT: The Massachusetts Institute of Technology is one of the world’s >preeminent research universities, dedicated to advancing knowledge and >educating students in science, tech-nology, and other areas of scholarship >that will best serve the nation and the world in the 21st century. It is >known for rigorous academic programs, cutting-edge research, a diverse >campus community, and its longstanding commitment to working with the public >and private sectors to bring new knowledge to bear on the world’s great >challenges. URL: http://web.mit.edu. > >For more information, contact >Judith Boettcher, Executive Director, CREN >202-331-5366; <jboettch@cren.net> > >---------------------------------------------------------------i2-news-+ >For list utilities, archives, unsubscription, etc. please visit the >ListProc web interface at > > http://mail.internet2.edu/ > >---------------------------------------------------------------i2-news-- >
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