Documents Contributed by ECAR, Security Management, and Identity Management

This July 2007 survey is part of a study of identity management and information technology (IT) security in higher education sponsored by CAUDIT in Australasia, by EUNIS in Europe, and by the EDUCAUSE Center for Applied Research (ECAR) in North America. Data from this study will form the basis of a report designed to help institutions position themselves in these evolving areas. Identity management refers to the business processes and infrastructure required to support the use of digital identities. Identity management is not the same as, but is related to, IT security, another top concern of IT leaders in higher education. The survey focuses on the key functions of establishing identity, user authentication, and authorization, as well as supporting infrastructures such as enterprise directory, reduced/single sign-on, and federated identity.

When ECAR studied IT security in 2003, we discovered that despite efforts to develop a secure IT infrastructure in higher education, uneven management awareness and a culture that equated good IT security with the curtailment of academic freedom constrained IT security options and choices. The results of this 2006 study of IT security in higher education demonstrate that there has been a sea change in less than three years. This study not only assesses the current condition of IT security practice, but documents changes in practice over time among a constant set of respondents. Among 492 total survey respondents, fully 204 institutions responded to both the 2003 and the 2005 surveys. Extraordinary changes in both hard and soft security measures were reported. Nearly one-third of responding institutions now have a chief information security officer, and more than 60 percent of the 2005 respondents have a centralized IT security function. The study is supported with qualitative interviews from 18 higher education institutions and organizations and with three case studies.

This roadmap synthesizes the important issues and recommended actions drawn from the ECAR study, Safeguarding the Tower: IT Security in Higher Education 2006. When ECAR studied IT security in 2003, we discovered that despite efforts to develop a secure IT infrastructure in higher education, uneven management awareness and a culture that equated good IT security with the curtailment of academic freedom constrained IT security options and choices. The results of this 2006 study of IT security in higher education demonstrate that there has been a sea change in less than three years. This study not only assesses the current condition of IT security practice, but documents changes in practice over time among a constant set of respondents. Among 492 total survey respondents, fully 204 institutions responded to both the 2003 and the 2005 surveys.

This document presents the key findings of the ECAR study, Safeguarding the Tower: IT Security in Higher Education 2006. When ECAR studied IT security in 2003, we discovered that despite efforts to develop a secure IT infrastructure in higher education, uneven management awareness and a culture that equated good IT security with the curtailment of academic freedom constrained IT security options and choices. The results of this 2006 study of IT security in higher education demonstrate that there has been a sea change in less than three years. This study not only assesses the current condition of IT security practice, but documents changes in practice over time among a constant set of respondents. Among 492 total survey respondents, fully 204 institutions responded to both the 2003 and the 2005 surveys. Extraordinary changes in both hard and soft security measures were reported. Nearly one-third of responding institutions now have a chief information security officer, and more than 60 percent of the 2005 respondents have a centralized IT security function.

This bulletin is a companion to Campus IT Security: Governance, Strategy, Policy, and Enforcement, ECAR's 2006 bulletin (No. 17) by the same authors. Security technologies provide various types of protection to the campus, including technologies that secure the network, control access, encrypt data, facilitate backups, provide virus protection, and supply enterprise directory services. This research bulletin focuses on the emerging set of technologies that fall under the broad category of identify management. It is based on a literature review, campus interviews, and the firsthand experience of the authors.

To manage today's complex set of networked relationships and processes a new category of service provider is emerging—the identity service provider. Higher education has many needs for identity services. This Research Bulletin describes the current efforts under way as well as the reasons that higher education must begin actively managing identity. Implementing identity services in higher education will impact policies, procedures, and services.