Security Coordinator Joins ITU
By Robin Herron
In response to recommendations from the George Mason Task Force on Information
Security and Privacy, a new information technology security coordinator, Gary
Patterson, was hired. Patterson, formerly director of information systems security
for a telecommunications corporation, will work in the Information Technology
Unit (ITU) Project Management Office.
According to Joy Hughes, vice president for Information Technology, hiring
an information security officer was one of the highest priorities identified by
the task force. The main responsibilities of the position as recommended by the
task force would be to conduct a security risk assessment, plan actions to address
the risks, and coordinate units to maintain a low-risk information technology
(IT) infrastructure.
Robert Nakles, ITU Project Management Office director, says Patterson will
coordinate with systems administrators throughout the university on IT security.
One of his first tasks will be to determine the best way to do this in the university's
distributed system, whether it be via meetings or web contact.
"I look forward to working with the systems administrators in an effort
to raise the level of IT security awareness," Patterson says. He can be reached
at x34183 or gpatters@gmu.edu.
In addition to Patterson's hiring, other task force recommendations have been
acted on. Hughes notes that nine George Mason systems administrators recently
attended a security training program in response to another recommendation.
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