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 INTERVIEW

Professor Gene 'Spaf' Spafford
Director, Center for Education and Research in Information Assurance and Security (CERIAS)

Prof. Eugene Spafford is an internationally recognized authority on computer and network security and privacy.

He has been widely honored within the scientific and security communities. He was named to the Information Systems Security Association (ISSA) Hall of Fame, received the National Computer System Security Award from NIST/NCSC (NSA), was awarded the William Hugh Murray Medal in 2001 by the National Colloquium for Information Systems Security Education (NCISSE) for "Outstanding Contributions to Information Security Education," and was named one of the "Five Most Influential Leaders in Information Security" by Information Security magazine readers.

Prof. Spafford is a Fellow of the ACM, AAAS, and IEEE.

He is currently a member of the Air Force Scientific Advisory Board and has served in an advisory or consulting capacity to several U.S. government agencies and contractors, including the NSF's CISE division, FBI, National Security Agency, U.S. Attorney's Office and the Secret Service.

Prof. Spafford is a professor of Computer Sciences, a professor of Philosophy, and Director of the Center for Education and Research in Information Assurance and Security (CERIAS). He is the interim Information Systems Security Officer for Purdue University.

Prof. Spafford's primary research is on issues relating to information security, with a secondary interest in the reliability of computer systems and the consequences of computer failures. In addition to his work in computer and network security, Prof. Spafford researches issues of computer crime and issues of liability and professional ethics.

His work in security has resulted in several oft-cited papers and a number of books, as well as the development of the COPS and Tripwire security programs for Unix. These tools are used world-wide in system security management.

Prof. Spafford has also conducted research on issues related to increasing the reliability of computer systems and the consequences of computer failures. This includes work with distributed computing systems.

Prior to formation of CERIAS, Prof. Spafford was Director of the Computer Operations, Audit, and Security Technology (COAST) Project and Laboratory. COAST was an effort to develop workable security technology and practical tools. COAST was folded into CERIAS in 1999.

Prof. Spafford is the Founder and Co-Director of the Purdue Computer Emergency Response Team (PCERT). He also served on the advisory boards of CERT and FIRST.

At Purdue University, Prof. Spafford has taught courses in operating systems, compiler and language design, computer security, computer architecture, software engineering, networking and data communications, and issues of ethics and professional responsibility.

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