A $4.9 million grant from the National Science Foundation will be used to create a new IU-led center for cybersecurity.
IU Chief Security Analyst Susan Sons will help develop the new virtual Research Security Operations Center, or ResearchSOC along with Von Welch, director of the Center for Applied Cybersecurity Research.
This virtual center will also be at other universities including Duke University and Carnegie Mellon University, according to an IU press release.
ResearchSOC will help aid scientific research projects at universities including IU, by securing data acquired in National Science Foundation research.
“Cybersecurity is important to continue the business of the university functioning day to day so people can continue to learn and teach and do research,” said IU’s Chief Information Security Officer Andrew Korty.
Sons said the focus of ResearchSOC will be to alleviate scientists' concerns of whether or not their data is reliable, while also ensuring it is easily accessible and not stored away in a research database where it will be difficult for others to find.
“There’s something worse than seeing something die in a fire, and that’s seeing something die in a file cabinet,” Sons said.
ResearchSOC will participate in outreach programs targeted towards researchers conducting National Science Foundation research who may need the cyber security resources that the center is providing.
At IU, ResearchSOC will work with campus internet technology services anywhere that National Science Foundation research is happening.
There is a goal to get students involved. Sons mentioned the importance of giving students the opportunity to see how their research could have an influence outside the university.
“The more that we are doing operations at IU I think it provides opportunities for students to get a peek into the real operational world,” she said.
