CICI: Regional: SAC-PA: Towards Security Assured Cyberinfrastructure in Pennsylvania

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Cybersecurity is a growing concern for individuals, communities, nations and the world. The increasing numbers of cyber attacks make cybersecurity a critical national security concern. Information technology provides tremendous opportunities to accelerate data-driven scientific research and education. Increasing cybersecurity problems can adversely impact scientific research and its economic and social benefits if the cyberinfrastructure that supports scientific research and education is not well protected. Beyond the implementation of innovative cybersecurity solutions, it is critical to establish structured and effective practices and better collaboration among various stakeholders to share cybersecurity resources, expertise and information. This project focuses on establishing a regional collaboration and partnership within the state of Pennsylvania, referred to as SAC-PA. SAC-PA provides critical support to smaller academic institutions, including resource constrained regional institutions that serve under-represented populations as well as high school teachers and students. It establishes a collaboration and partnership framework to enable concerted activities promoting the use of effective cybersecurity techniques and practices inherent in security-assured cyberinfrastructure. While enhancing the cybersecurity posture of Pennsylvania, SAC-PA provides a regional cybersecurity collaboration and partnership model that can be adopted by other regions, or be extended to national-level collaborations. The SAC-PA project includes participation from both the public and private sectors and academic institutions in PA. The following key activities are planned: (i) developing and delivering three regional workshops in Pittsburgh to bring together regional stakeholders from scientific research communities along with cyberinfrastructure or cybersecurity resources to better understand the regional capabilities; explore existing and emerging cybersecurity challenges/solutions; and devise collaboration and partnerships to enable concerted cybersecurity activities to promote the use of effective cybersecurity techniques and practices; (ii) collaboratively developing training/awareness materials based on the needs and capabilities identified in the workshops, and sharing these extensively with regional partners and beyond through various channels; and (iii) establishing regional partnerships and a shared repository of cybersecurity resources/capabilities to facilitate collaborative and concerted efforts towards protecting scientific cyberinfrastructure. The project leverages capabilities of LERSAIS, an NSA/DHS designated Center of Academic Excellence and Research (CAE/CAE-R), University of Pittsburgh faculty members, University of Pittsburgh?s Computing Services and Systems Department, local partners with an excellent track record of collaboration in cybersecurity capacity building, education and research projects, and the established NSF CyberCorp program at the University of Pittsburgh.