current trends

In this 43 minute podcast, we feature a keynote speech by Bruce Schneier, author and Chief Technology Officer for BT Counterpane, Inc. This speech was delivered at the EDUCAUSE 2007 Annual Conference in Seattle, Washington on October 26th, 2007. It is entitled "Bruce Schneier on Information Security: Ten Trends".

Surveying current trends in information security, it’s clear that a myriad of forces are at work. But fundamentally, security is all about economics: both attacker and defender are trying to maximize the return on their investments. Economics can both explain why security fails so often and offer new solutions for its success. For example, often the people who could protect a system are not those who suffer the costs of failure. Changing these economic incentives will do more to improve security than will more technology.

Which IT issues have the greatest strategic importance to higher education institutions today and which ones are likely to be important in the future? Find answers to these questions and learn about other current trends in the 2007 EDUCAUSE Current IT Issues Survey report, published in the current issue of EDUCAUSE Quarterly.

The 2007 survey gathered responses from 591 primary representatives (typcially CIOs) of EDUCAUSE member institutions, representing public and private and associate- through doctorate-granting institutions of all sizes.

Among this year's key findings:

• Funding IT re-emerges as a top challenge.
• Security and identity/access management split as separate issues.
• Course/learning management systems move into the top ten for the first time.
• Among issues expected to be more significant in the future, portals drop in rank from fifth to ninth.