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DAILY NEWS AND INFORMATION
FOR THE GLOBAL GRID COMMUNITY /
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Breaking News -
Security:
NSF Announces $30 Million Program
In "Cyber Trust"
The risks of identity theft, e-mail viruses, denial-of-service attacks,
system
glitches and other online hazards often make the average person's reliance on
computer systems more of a leap of faith than a bond of trust. To promote
research into more dependable, accountable and secure computer and network
systems, the National Science Foundation (NSF) has issued a solicitation for
the Cyber Trust program, which expects to fund up to $30 million in
awards.
"Cyber Trust goes beyond protecting your computer from the next e mail
virus,
although that is certainly part of the goal," said NSF program director Carl
Landwehr. "People need computer systems they can rely on. They should perform
as promised in critical situations, protect sensitive information and help
everyone use them securely-and with confidence."
The Cyber Trust program will support up to three research center-level
efforts
as well as single-investigator and team awards, subject to NSF's merit-review
process and the availability of funds. NSF expects that Cyber Trust research
centers will involve collaborations among academic, industry and other
partners.
"Interconnected computer systems are part of the nation's critical
infrastructure as well as part of people's homes, cars and offices," said
noted computer security expert Eugene H. Spafford of Purdue University, who
recently joined NSF as a senior advisor. "The goal for Cyber Trust research is
to make these systems-and their successors-not only less vulnerable to
attacks, but also less likely to corrupt data, expose private information or
fail when subjected to unexpected inputs."
The Cyber Trust program is seeking innovative proposals in three broad
areas:
fundamental research, multi-disciplinary research and education and workforce
development. Fundamental research is needed to advance the state of the art in
knowledge and technology about trustworthy computing. This covers such areas
as security and privacy models and metrics, evaluation and certification
methods, denial-of-service prevention, long-lived data archiving methods,
privacy protection and network and application forensics.
Multi-disciplinary research is needed to improve understanding of the
social,
legal, ethical and economic trade-offs that affect the design and operation of
trusted information systems. Finally, the Cyber Trust program encourages
proposals that encompass education and workforce development to ensure that
those who produce, operate and use trusted systems can put the technological
advances into practice.
Deadlines and additional information for proposals are available in the
official solicitation, which can be found at
www.nsf.gov/pubsys/ods/getpub.cfm?nsf04524.
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