I wanted to inform anyone on this list who is interested that
there is a SELinux Panel at FOSE in Washington DC, Thursday March 21 between
2:45-3:00. Check at FOSE for room location.
The Panel includes:
Peter A. Loscocco, Security-enhanced Linux Project Leader,
National Security Agency
Mark Westerman, Westcam Inc., SELinux community
developer
Martin R. Dean, PhD Candidate in Computer Science at George
Washington University, responsible for the Cyberspace Policy Institute's SELinux
Distribution project.
Moderator is:
Tony Stanco, Senior Policy Analyst, Cyberspace Policy
Institute, George Washington University
About SELinux:
Security-enhanced Linux incorporates into Linux a strong,
flexible
mandatory access control architecture that enables threats to
system
security to be effectively addressed. The NSA's Information
Assurance
Research Group has long been interested in the problems associated
with
creating secure systems. SELinux draws from the results of
that
research. The release of SELinux to the open source community
has
proven to be an effective strategy for achieving many research
and
technology transfer goals. However, participation in this community
is
a new endeavor for NSA that has presented a number of challenges
that
needed to be overcome. This presentation will give an overview
of
SELinux and how its security features enable systems to be
configured
more securely than is currently possible using mainstream
operating
systems. In addition. it will touch upon the benefits, as well as
the
challenges, of the federal government working in the open
source
arena.
About the Participants:
Mr. Loscocco is a senior research scientist with the
Information
Assurance Research Group of NSA where he has studied
problems
associated with computer and network security since 1985. Since
1990,
he has concentrated in the area of operating system security where
he
has helped develop a series of prototype secure operating systems.
He
currently leads NSA's operating system research program. Mr.
Loscocco
and his team developed SELinux, the secure variant of Linux that
NSA
released in December 2000 to help influence the direction of
security
in mainstream operating systems.
Mark Westerman
Managing Partner for Westcam, Inc.,
has over 15 years of experience in all
phases of computer network design,
network security, encryption technology,
and firewalls as well as
UNIX, Windows NT, and Windows 2000 expertise. Mark
has designed AIS level
3 security systems and network security systems for
NASA.
He was the head security designer of one of NASA's AIS 3
network
development environments. For the last 2 years he has been
implementing SELinux
systems for use in connecting single computers to
multiple security level
system for NASA. SNARE background at
http://www.intersectalliance.com/projects/Snare/Documentation/index.html#SNA
RE=5Finstallation
Martin R. Dean represents the Cyberspace Policy Institute’s
Security-Enhanced
Linux project. The project’s goal is to create, maintain,
and continually
improve a secure Linux version and to develop a community
of
Security-Enhanced Linux support to eGovernment organizations. Mr. Dean
holds
a BS degree in Computer and Information Science, an MS in
Information
Systems Management and currently pursues a Ph.D. in Computer
Science at The
George Washington University. Mr. Dean specializes in computer
security in
his academic endeavors. Mr. Dean is a principal engineer with
SAIC and has strong experience in
systems engineering, software engineering
and computer networking. At The
George Washington University, Mr. Dean
has taught three times the operating
system lab, where he has guided his
students in writing kernel modules and
device drivers using the Linux
operating system.
Tony Stanco is a Senior Policy Analyst of the Cyberspace
Policy Institute (CPI) at The George Washington University, where he advocates
both the commercial and philosophical advantages of Open Source/Free Software
around the world. Before joining CPI, Tony worked at the Securities and
Exchange Commission in Washington, DC as a senior attorney in the Internet and
software group. Tony is a listed speaker on behalf of the Free Software
Foundation and GNU Project.