Higher Education Bridge Certification Authority

The goal of the Higher Education Bridge Certification Authority (HEBCA) is to facilitate trusted electronic communications within and between institutions of higher education as well as with federal and state governments. By working with the Federal Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) Steering Committee and the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the HEBCA Board of Instantiation and Development (BID) hopes to build a bridge for higher education, modeled on the Federal Bridge Certification Authority (FBCA), that will allow a complex collection of institutions to share trusted electronic credentials necessary for a broad range of applications in education, research, and administration.

The HEBCA BID

The HEBCA BID project was designed to articulate important issues and to develop a set of proposed solutions to resolve issues regarding the management, development, deployment, and ongoing operations of HEBCA. These activities will contribute in a real and measurable way to enhancing the national and international PKI infrastructure and the interlinking of bridge certificate authorities (BCAs).

The BID comprises higher education representatives, experienced industry veterans, and respected legal advisors who meet via teleconference every two weeks. They have created three working groups to tackle the BID charter and to resolve the issues within its one-year mandate.

The BID also coordinates with federal PKI representatives to ensure appropriate alignment with extant PKI BCA initiatives, to leverage current experiences (not "reinventing the wheel," as it were), and to maintain a high level of interaction between the two BCA camps.

The Federal PKI and PKI Bridge initiatives with which the HEBCA BID coordinates provide additional information of interest. Among the sources of information on the Federal PKI activities, the following sites provide robust guidance and data:

• The Federal Bridge Certificate Authority home page
• The Federal PKI Policy Authority home page
• The Federal PKI Steering Committee home page

Resources

• Mark Luker's article, "A Bridge for Trusted Electronic Communications in Higher Education and the Federal Government," from Jan./Feb. 2002 EDUCAUSE Review describes PKI and some of the obstacles encountered with its adoption in higher education.
• Jon Udell's article, "Finessing PKI," published by InfoWorld
• HEBCA proof of concept
• HEBCA testimonials
• Net@EDU Identity Management Working Group page

Any questions regarding the BID should be directed to Steve Worona.