SELinux Panel at FOSE in Washington DC, Thursday March 21
between 2:45-3:00. Check at FOSE for room location. The Panel
includes: Peter A. Loscocco, Security-enhanced Linux Project
Leader, National Security Agency Mark Westerman, Westcam Inc.,
SELinux community developer Martin R. Dean, PhD Candidate in
Computer Science at George Washington University, responsible for
the Cyberspace Policy Institute’s SELinux Distribution project.
Moderator is: Tony Stanco, Senior Policy Analyst, Cyberspace
Policy Institute, George Washington University About SELinux:
Security-enhanced Linux incorporates into Linux a strong, flexible
mandatory access control architecture that enables threats to
system security to be effectively addressed. The NSA’s Information
Assurance Research Group has long been interested in the problems
associated with creating secure systems. SELinux draws from the
results of that research. The release of SELinux to the open source
community has proven to be an effective strategy for achieving many
research and technology transfer goals. However, participation in
this community is a new endeavor for NSA that has presented a
number of challenges that needed to be overcome. This presentation
will give an overview of SELinux and how its security features
enable systems to be configured more securely than is currently
possible using mainstream operating systems. In addition. it will
touch upon the benefits, as well as the challenges, of the federal
government working in the open source arena.
About the Participants:
Mr. Loscocco is a senior research scientist with the Information
Assurance Research Group of NSA where he has studied problems
associated with computer and network security since 1985.
Since 1990, he has concentrated in the area of operating system
security where he has helped develop a series of prototype secure
operating systems. He currently leads NSA’s operating system
research program. Mr. Loscocco and his team developed SELinux, the
secure variant of Linux that NSA released in December 2000 to help
influence the direction of security in mainstream operating
systems.
Mark Westerman Managing Partner for Westcam, Inc., has over 15
years of experience in all phases of computer network design,
network security, encryption technology, and firewalls as well as
UNIX, Windows NT, and Windows 2000 expertise. Mark has designed AIS
level 3 security systems and network security systems for NASA. He
was the head security designer of one of NASA’s AIS 3 network
development environments. For the last 2 years he has been
implementing SELinux systems for use in connecting single computers
to multiple security level system for NASA. SNARE background at
http://www.intersectalliance.com/projects/Snare/Documentation/index.html#SNA
RE=5Finstallation
Martin R. Dean represents the Cyberspace Policy Institute’s
Security-Enhanced Linux project. The project’s goal is to create,
maintain, and continually improve a secure Linux version and to
develop a community of Security-Enhanced Linux support to
eGovernment organizations. Mr. Dean holds a BS degree in Computer
and Information Science, an MS in Information Systems Management
and currently pursues a Ph.D. in Computer Science at The George
Washington University. Mr. Dean specializes in computer security in
his academic endeavors. Mr. Dean is a principal engineer with SAIC
and has strong experience in systems engineering, software
engineering and computer networking. At The George Washington
University, Mr. Dean has taught three times the operating system
lab, where he has guided his students in writing kernel modules and
device drivers using the Linux operating system.
Tony Stanco is a Senior Policy Analyst of the Cyberspace Policy
Institute (CPI) at The George Washington University, where he
advocates both the commercial and philosophical advantages of Open
Source/Free Software around the world. Before joining CPI, Tony
worked at the Securities and Exchange Commission in Washington, DC
as a senior attorney in the Internet and software group. Tony is a
listed speaker on behalf of the Free Software Foundation and GNU
Project.