June 2023: SecureMyResearch at Indiana University: Effective Cybersecurity for Research

The tension between research and cybersecurity has long hampered efforts to secure research. It has kept past institutional cybersecurity effort concentrated on the most sensitive research, but new threats to research integrity and recent federal initiatives such as NSPM-33 are now pointing to a future where securing research holistically is no longer optional. Indiana University launched a pilot in 2020 called SecureMyResearch to expand to the entire campus a research cybersecurity model culminating from years of interaction with biomedical researchers in the School of Medicine. Turning the traditional approach on its head, it aimed to reduce the cybersecurity and compliance burden on the researcher by making cybersecurity invisible. It was laser-focused on the research mission and on accommodating the pace of research. Three years later, the results are showing great promise in breaking the research versus security impasse. Not only have we reached 80 percent penetration on campus, researchers are embracing the service voluntarily and research is being accelerated measurably. In this webinar we will share IU’s research cybersecurity journey and the SecureMyResearch implementation.

https://cacr.iu.edu/projects/SecureMyResearch/index.html

Speaker Bios:

Anurag Shankar provides leadership at CACR in regulatory compliance (HIPAA, FISMA, and DFARS/CMMC), research cybersecurity, and cyber risk management. He developed and leads the SecureMyResearch effort at IU. He has over three decades of experience conducting research, developing and delivering research computing services, building HIPAA compliant solutions for biomedical researchers, conducting cybersecurity assessments, and providing consulting. He is a computational astrophysicist by training (Ph.D. 1990, U. of Illinois).

Will Drake is a senior security analyst, CISO at CACR, and the SecureMyResearch lead. Will has worked in various IT roles with Indiana University since 2012, including Operations Supervisor for UITS Data Center Operations and Lead Systems Engineer for the Campus Communications Infrastructure team where he was responsible for ensuring the security of IU’s critical telecommunications infrastructure. Will holds an Associate’s Degree in Computer Information Technology from Ivy Tech and is currently pursuing a Bachelor’s Degree in Informatics with a specialization in Legal Informatics from IUPUI’s School of Informatics and Computing.

Tim Daniel is an information security analyst at CACR and a member of the SecureMyResearch team. Previously, Tim worked for a contract research organization carrying out phase 1 and pre-phase 1 clinical trials for veterinary medicine. He holds a bachelor’s degree in biology with a focus in chemistry, and an associate's degree in applied biotechnology. After high school, Tim worked for Stone Belt, a nonprofit that provides resources and supports for individuals with disabilities, where he learned patience and listening skills.