News Release

Lilly Endowment Invests In Purdue Computer Security Initiative

Grant and Award Announcement

Purdue University

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. -- A $4.9 million grant to Purdue University's new information security center may help boost efforts to safeguard the valuable information that flows through computers throughout the world.

The three-year grant, from the Lilly Endowment Inc., will fund operating costs and several new initiatives for Purdue's Center for Education and Research in Information Assurance and Security (CERIAS, pronounced "serious"), the world's first comprehensive information security center, says Eugene Spafford, professor of computer science and director of the center.

"We were attracted to CERIAS because of its potential to create professional, high-tech economic opportunities in Indiana," says N. Clay Robbins, president of the Lilly Endowment.

CERIAS was designed to address issues related to information security from numerous perspectives, including economic and international espionage, sabotage, terrorism and vandalism. Founded in 1998, the center focuses on finding ways to protect valuable information in all its various forms as it flows through computers -- whether on network cable, disks, faxes or a phone call.

"Information assurance and security include a wide range of important issues," Spafford says. "Network security, communications security, policy development, disaster recovery, investigation of computer crime, employee training and supervision, and protection against defective software all must be addressed.

"The protection of information is a major concern as it relates to national defense, commerce and even our private lives. It also is a business with enormous growth potential. On-line commerce in the United States is predicted to exceed $15 billion annually by the year 2000, and there is a critical shortage of sound technology and well-trained analysts in this field."

Although closely associated with Purdue's Department of Computer Sciences, CERIAS also involves faculty working in areas such as electrical and computer engineering, sociology, criminology, political science, linguistics, ethics, management and economics.

The funding from Lilly will help the center move forward in extending its scientific research and education efforts, Spafford says. The center works with researchers in industry, government and other academic institutions around the world and provides educational opportunities for both its internal and external audiences.

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More information about CERIAS is available on the Web at http://www.cerias.purdue.edu.

CONTACTS: Spafford, 765-494-7825; e-mail, spaf@purdue.edu; Andra Short, CERIAS manager of external relations, 765-494-7806; e-mail, acs@cerias.purdue.edu



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