Call for Trusted CI Framework Cohort Participation - Response due 24 March 2023

 

The Framework Cohort is a six month, group engagement aimed at facilitating adoption and implementation of the Trusted CI Framework among NSF Major Facilities, Mid-scales, and research cyberinfrastructure (CI) providers. During the engagement, members of the cohort will work closely with Trusted CI toward implementing the Trusted CI Framework at their facility, emerging with a validated assessment of their cybersecurity program and a strategic plan detailing their path to fully implement each Framework Must. Cohort members will participate in six monthly workshops (lasting three hours each) and spend no more than eight hours each month outside of the workshops on cohort assignments. The fourth cohort will meet from July 2023 through December 2023.

 Since January 2022, almost 70 percent of NSF’s Major Facilities (MFs) have completed a cohort engagement or are currently participating in a cohort. These MFs include ARF, GAGE, IceCube, LIGO, NEON, NOIRLab, NRAO, NSO, OOI, SAGE and USAP. Additionally, NSF’s Mid-scales FABRIC, Network for Advanced NMR (NAN) and Deep Soil Ecotron (DSE); and the Corporation for Educational Network Initiatives in California (CENIC) and Giant Magellan Telescope (GMTO) are cohort participants. 

NSF Major Facilities and Mid-scales  providers wishing to participate in the next Framework cohort engagement should respond to the call by completing the form at the bottom of this page: https://www.trustedci.org/call-for-trusted-ci-framework-cohort  Your response is appreciated by Friday, March 24, 2023.

Advancing the Cybersecurity of NSF Major Facilities and National Research Cyberinfrastructure: Trusted CI’s Framework Cohort Achievements in 2022

Trusted CI’s second Framework Cohort, “Bravo”, successfully completed the six-month program of training and workshop engagement focused on learning and applying the Trusted CI Framework. Cohort members entered the engagement with a commitment to adopting the Framework at their sites. They then worked closely with Trusted CI to gather site information and create validated self-assessments of their facility’s cybersecurity programs based on the Framework. In addition, each site emerged with a draft Cybersecurity Program Strategic Plan (CPSP) identifying priorities and directions for further refining their cybersecurity programs. Bravo cohort included the following NSF Major Facilities (MFs) and research cyberinfrastructure providers:

• Corporation for Education Network Initiatives in California (CENIC)
• FABRIC  
• National Ecological Observatory Network (NEON)
• Seismological Facilities for the Advancement of Geoscience (SAGE)

The foundation of the cohort program is the Trusted CI Framework. The Framework was created as a minimum standard for cybersecurity programs. In contrast to cybersecurity guidance focused narrowly on cybersecurity controls, the Trusted CI Framework provides a more holistic and mission-focused standard for managing cybersecurity. For these organizations, the cohort was their first formal training in the Trusted CI Framework “Pillars” and “Musts” and how to apply these fundamental principles to assess their cybersecurity programs.

Concurrent with leading Bravo, Trusted CI continued engagement with the inaugural “Alpha” cohort through the end of 2022. Alpha cohort followed up on the success of the first half of the year by focusing on implementation challenges each cohort member was currently facing. Each of the monthly workshops was led by a different cohort member, with the workshop focused on addressing a specific cybersecurity challenge that the facility was facing. The Trusted CI Framework team is exploring ideas to continue the productive engagement with the cohort alumni.

In January 2023 Trusted CI began a third Framework cohort engagement (“Charlie”). Charlie cohort includes the following organizations:

• Academic Research Fleet (ARF)
• Deep Soil Ecotron (DSE)
• Giant Magellan Telescope (GMTO)
• IceCube Neutrino Observatory (IceCube)
• Network for Advanced NMR (NAN)
• US Antarctic Program (USAP)

Trusted CI is excited to be working with these new sites to advance their understanding and implementation of cybersecurity programs and best practices!

For more information, please contact us at info@trustedci.org.

Trusted CI Webinar: Using the Trusted CI Framework to Create the CFDE Cybersecurity Program, Feb 27th @11am EST

Rick Wagner is presenting the talk, Using the Trusted CI Framework to Create the CFDE Cybersecurity Program, February 27th at 11am (Eastern).

Please register here.

The NIH Common Fund Data Ecosystem (CFDE) aims to enable the broad use of Common Fund (CF) data sets to accelerate discovery. CF programs generate a wide range of diverse and valuable data sets designed to be used by the research community. However, these data sets reside in different locations, and it is challenging or even impossible to work with multiple data sets in an accessible and user-friendly way. To help remedy this problem, the CFDE has created an online discovery portal that helps make CF data sets FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable) and enables researchers to search across CF data sets to ask scientific and clinical questions from a single access point. The CFDE Coordinating Center oversees CFDE activities and works closely with participating data coordinating centers from other CF programs on an initial subset of data sets, with plans to expand to additional CF data sets. As the security officer for the CFDE Coordinating Center, Rick used the Trusted CI Framework to focus cybersecurity efforts on protecting the trust amongst the CFDE participants. This mission-driven approach significantly clarified the CFDE's cybersecurity planning.

Speaker Bio:

Rick Wagner is a Principal Research Systems Integration Engineer at UCSD. Rick began his career using cyberinfrastructure as a tool for research in astrophysics, working on problems in cosmology and supersonic turbulence. His research was largely done on campus, NSF, and DOE computing resources, the same kinds of systems he later managed for SDSC. Rick took a break from UCSD to work for Globus at the University of Chicago, helping researchers with data management solutions. Now Rick is part of the Research IT team, helping to design solution for projects that cut across the campus and beyond it. He is also trying to smooth the boundary between cybersecurity and research, and was a 2021 Trusted CI Fellow.

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Join Trusted CI's announcements mailing list for information about upcoming events. To submit topics or requests to present, see our call for presentations. Archived presentations are available on our site under "Past Events."

Registration Open for 3rd HPC Security Workshop at NIST NCCoE

Trusted CI is participating in the 3rd HPC Security Workshop, hosted by NIST’s National Cybersecurity Center of Excellence (NCCoE). The goal of the workshop is to gather community feedback, share the work of the HPC security working group, and to plan future tasks.

The in-person workshop will be held Wednesday through Thursday, March 15th - 16th in Rockville, MD. Registration is currently open.

The workshop will begin Wednesday morning with a keynote from NSF Program Officer Rob Beverly. Next, members of NCSA, PSC, and NCAR will present on their experiences as HPC operators. Later in the afternoon Trusted CI Director, Jim Basney will be presenting with colleagues on cybersecurity framework development, implementation, and assessment.

On Thursday, Erik Deumens, member of Trusted CI partner Regulated Research Community of Practice (RRCoP), will be participating in a presentation on HPC security research. Later, Trusted CI Deputy Director Sean Peisert will present the final keynote on secure data sharing in HPC environments.

The full agenda is available on NIST’s website.

Join Trusted CI's announcements mailing list for information about upcoming events.