Assurance

[Ann West <>]

Dear InCommon Community,

The InCommon Assurance Program will open for business on Wednesday, February 
29, 2012 with a webinar describing the criteria and process for 
certification. The webinar will take place at 2 pm (ET); connection 
information is included at the end of this announcement.

The assurance program certifies campuses, not-for-profit research 
organizations and sponsored partners that meet the identity and credential 
management requirements for specific profiles or practices. Central to the 
certification process is the Assurance Advisory Committee, comprised of 
community members that will make certification recommendations to the 
InCommon Steering Committee.

InCommon has two published sets of practices, Bronze and Silver, which align 
with the US government’s NIST levels 1 and 2, respectively. Bronze has a 
security level that slightly exceeds the confidence associated with a common 
Internet identity. Silver has a security level appropriate for financial 
transactions.

More than 15 campuses intend apply for Silver certification in 2012, 
anticipating the use of applications from the National Institutes of Health, 
the National Student Clearinghouse, and other service providers. Several 
community-developed resources have been contributed to the Assurance wiki, 
most notably a cookbook for using Microsoft’s Active Directory to comply with 
the Silver Profile as well as Multi-factor Authentication Guidance for 
Silver, both developed by the CIC InCommon Silver working group.

The February 29 webinar will introduce the assurance program, outline 
certification requirements, and review the certification process.

Here are the details on the assurance webinar:

Date:           Wednesday, February 29, 2012
Time:           2 pm ET / 1 pm CT / Noon MT / 11 am PT
Connect:        Slides, audio, and chat at 
internet2.adobeconnect.com/assurance
                Back-up phone bridge information (in case of audio problems):
                        734-615-7474 (preferred), or
                        866-411-0013 (toll-free US and Canada)
                        PIN: 0194936
More info:      assurance.incommon.org

Questions before then? Let me know.

Best,
Ann

--
Ann West
Assistant Director,
Assurance and Community
Internet2/InCommon/Michigan Tech

office: +1.906.487.1726