Security Review Panel
George Mason University

Information Technology Unit

 

 

GMU Security Review Panel Meeting Minutes 5/2/03

SRP members present:
Anne Marchant, IT&E (Chair)
Cathy Hubbs (ITU/Project Office)
Bob Peraino (ITU/TSD)
John McCarthy (School of Law, CIPP)
Jonathon Goldman (IT&E)
Marc Homer (Graduate Student)
Justin Brown (Physics&Astronomy)
Stanley Zoltek (Faculty Senate Liaison)

1) Joy Hughes, Vice President for Information Technology and CIO and Walt Sevon, ITU Finance & Planning Director talked to the group about the State Security Audit that is underway and offered the SRP a role in the process of responding to the audit findings. We discussed:

a) If the findings necessitate changes that will affect the campus community, the SRP can assist in getting feedback from the community to make transitions easier.

b) The SRP may make recommendations to ITU with respect to policy changes, perhaps in coordination/consultation with other committees and campus authorities (for example: the Legal Affairs Department and Privacy and Security Compliance Team).

There was discussion as to whether this was within the scope of this group. It was noted that the RUC specifies that SRP "provides security advice" and so the consensus was that this is an appropriate undertaking for this group.

2) Cathy gave us a summary of the first quarter reports to abuse@gmu.edu. Most frequent complaints involved spam, viruses/worms, hostile probes, copyright violations, scams, and listserve abuse. The group discussed what steps should be taken in the event of more serious situations that warrant immediate steps such as a serious threat made against someone or a situation where a lawsuit may result if action is not taken immediately. The consensus was that we still need to follow the STOPIT Procedure, but that appropriate authority (police, Legal Affairs, Dean of Students, etc.) may be consulted concurrently. Indeed the RUC differentiates between cases that necessitate immediate action and those that should be handled by the STOPIT process. (q.v. Section VI: "This policy distinguishes between incidents that pose no immediate dangers to persons or to system integrity, and incidents that do. The three-step STOPIT process described below is designed for cases in which there are no immediate dangers.")

We discussed a case involving a serious copyright violation case involving a student who was a repeat offender. The recommendation was to organize an open forum in the Fall in the JC for students to learn about the laws and recent rulings and to coordinate with the Student Senate.

3) We discussed revisions of the RUC and agreed that we would follow up via email.

 

 

Last Update: June 9, 2003
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Security Review Panel

George Mason University Information Technology Unit