Likins appoints overseer for security council

University President Peter Likins Wednesday appointed Mely Tynan, vice provost for information technology, as the central figure in a new Information Security Council charged with safeguarding student and employee information.

"The goal of the security officer is to guide the university in data management," Tynan said yesterday. "The intention is to take a serious and broad look into the issues."

The issues in Tynan's lap include privacy concerns and information management, both hot topics at the University of Arizona in light of the recent CatCard controversy.

Last month, the UA illegally released student and employee Social Security numbers to MCI Telecommunications Corp. and Saguaro Credit Union while implementing the new identification card.

The newly formed CatCard Advisory Committee, which was started by CatCard's creators after the controversy, created a UA Privacy Committee to look at broader privacy issues on campus.

"I think this dovetails with what the president intends to do," Tynan said.

Because the UA Privacy Committee has fundamentally the same goal as Tynan's Information Security Council, the committee may soon be defunct. But Likins and Tynan said they would consider appointing members of the privacy committee to the council.

"Sure, some people will be invited to the presidentially appointed committee," Likins said.

"With the larger issues, the cast of characters changes," he said. "We must look beyond CatCard constituency."

Terrence Bressi, a Lunar and Planetary engineer and UA Privacy Committee member, said he supports the new council.

"I feel better about something being sponsored by the president of the university," he said. "That would give a great deal more validity to the issue."

Likins and Tynan said that for security reasons, they will choose the council members carefully.

Likins also said the council meetings will not be conducted "in the light of day" for security reasons. Because meetings will include discussion about the system's weaknesses, open meetings could allow potential hackers to access and take advantage of confidential information.

Likins said he is coming to realize that keeping confidential information secure in the UA's computer systems is the predominant issue.

"There is no university-wide protocol as to how we maintain privacy on campus," Likins said. "The correct answer will finally be fully integrated software systems."

He said Tynan will report on estimated costs and time necessary to secure student and employee information by the end of 1998.