Collaborative Information Security Project – Vulnerability Assessments

In 2001, five California community colleges and state universities began collaborating to address mutual security needs through a Title V grant. These institutions first came together as members of a national, 35 college consortium called Advanced Networking for Minority Serving Institutions (AN-MSI). Realizing that we were grappling with a common set of IT security problems, we joined together to develop solutions. This effort was led by William Aguilar, vice president of Information Resources and Technology at California State University, San Bernardino, with strong support from Michael Berman, vice president for Instructional and Information Technology at California State Polytechnic University at Pomona; Peter Quan, vice president for Information Technology Services from California State University, Los Angeles; Jerry Nogy, vice president for Information and Educational Technology at Mt. San Antonio College; and Ramiro Sanchez, executive vice president for Student Learning at Oxnard College. This initiative has resulted in an overall increase in security and awareness on all five participating campuses. The main goals and objectives of the collaborative project are to: • Develop the capacity to identify information system vulnerabilities and risks • Develop campus security measures to reduce risks and improve reliability of networks and information systems • Develop a learning environment in campus IT departments to increase information security and improve quality of services • Create a campus culture that values the need for information security through faculty, staff, and student education awareness • Improve curriculum in technology-based courses • Dissemination of lessons learned and best practices to other higher education institutions