PITTSBURGH-Pennsylvania Governor Mark Schweiker and Vermont Governor Howard Dean will join some of the nation's leading state information technology officials, academic experts and Internet security specialists when they meet March 27-28 at Carnegie Mellon University to explore ways to strengthen the security of state information systems and network infrastructures.Governor Dean, who serves on the executive committee for the National Governor's Association and who has been active in computer security matters, will be a keynote speaker at the conference.

Topics to be addressed during the two-day event will include identity, authentication and access control, balancing privacy and identity, trusted input devices, driver's licenses as a basis of identity, strong authentication, digital signatures and consideration of a Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT) for the states."The importance of security is now a top priority for government and industries that operate the interconnected networks and systems that comprise the global information infrastructure," said Governor Dean. "We are all interconnected by computers and networks in the global infrastructure and we are only as secure as the weakest link. We all face new security challenges in the information technology community, and need to work together to identify technology solutions, as well as the resources necessary to meet these challenges."

"During the past seven years, Pennsylvania state government has become a national leader in the effective use of technology to improve public services," said Governor Schweiker, who will address workshop attendees at Noon, March 27." In the process, we haven't lost sight of the need to protect our high-tech networks and databases from hacking and unauthorized access. To maintain our citizen's trust for the handling of their personal data, we have to remain vigilant in our efforts to safeguard the Commonwealth's extensive technology resources."

"The issue of securing and protecting state resources has never been more urgent," added Robert Thibadeau, director of the Internet Security Laboratory in the Institute for Software Research International in Carnegie Mellon's School of Computer Science. "While there has been a focus on security for bridges, buildings and natural resources, there is an equally urgent need to address security for states' computer infrastructure and vital records. Keep in mind that the 19 terrorists on September 11 were holding 63 state driver's licenses for identification."

In addition to Governors Schweiker and Dean, other speakers at the security research workshop will include Rock Regan, chief information officer for the state of Connecticut; Barry Goleman, American Management Systems; Lark Allen, executive vice president, Wave Systems Corp; Jeffrey Hunker, dean, H. John Heinz School of Public Policy and Management, Carnegie Mellon; Richard Pethia, director, Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT) at Carnegie Mellon's Software Engineering Institute, as well as other state information technology leaders.

The States Security Workshop is one of a series held at Carnegie Mellon to address issues of security in many facets of society where computers are involved. They will be focused on the hard problems of computer security in a particular venue and the new best-of-breed deployable solutions.

The first workshop on trust infrastructure was held last November. Future conferences will cover topics such as mobile security, privacy and health care. White papers will be written on each of the topics and will be made public. For more information on the workshop and speakers see www.security.scs.cmu.edu.

The Workshop Series is a central component of a security research consortium in the Institute for Software Research, International in Carnegie Mellon's School of Computer Science. The consortium was formed to addresses the growing number of specific issues of security when computers are involved.