CENIC's Network Security Initiative

The 20 million people who rely on CENIC’s network to connect with each other and with the world want to know that their network is secure, safe, and reliable. As part of developing a more robust security strategy, CENIC has produced a comprehensive, risk-prioritized list of computing and networking assets, and has begun a detailed examination of security posture and risk exposure for the most critical assets. Mitigations, including monitoring and hardening, have also begun.

In response to the concerns of its members, CENIC has launched a new initiative to ensure the reliability and security of the CalREN network. With cybersecurity threats growing, CENIC’s Chief Cybersecurity Strategist is now joined by a Senior Security Engineer dedicated to operational security issues, and working to introduce new software-based, automated detection systems into the CENIC toolset. CENIC has formed an internal “virtual security team,” including representatives from multiple departments, to discuss security issues and mitigations and to disseminate that knowledge to the rest of CENIC.

CENIC also continues to collaborate with and learn from others in the security arena &emdash; working, for example, with ESnet on technology, staffing, and incident response, and having discussions with the R&D community about new technologies that may be useful for CENIC and its constituents.

More in the Spring 2017 CENIC Community Report