PKI Implementation at the University of WisconsinMadison

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PKI Implementation at the University of
Wisconsin-Madison

• CIC Presentation
• Nicholas A. Davis
• November 7, 2005

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Overview

• AuthN/Z at UW-Madison
• Quick outline of PKI technology
• Why the UW-Madison uses PKI
• History of PKI at UW-Madison
• How the technology is being used
• Current challenges
• On the horizon
• QA session

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Communities Served by UW-Madison AuthNZ
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Outline of PKI technology

• PKI - Acronym for Public Key Infrastructure
• Confidentiality
• Authenticity
• Integrity
• Non-repudiation
• The Infrastructure portion of PKI

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Why UW-Madison uses PKI

• HIPAA
• FERPA
• Research activities
• Open network
• Higher education PKI partners
• Help and learn from Internet2, Educause and CIC

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UW-Madison PKI Activity
2000
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PKI infrastructure

• The U.W.-Madison PKI is co-managed
• Time to implement
• Cost to implement
• Off site key backup
• The Equifax Secure Ebusiness CA1
• Ability to migrate easily to in house solution

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How the technology is being used

• Faculty Staff Students
• 120 Early Adopters
• Cryptographic USB devices
• Windows and Macintosh
• Digitally sign files and email
• Encrypt email and attachments
• Outlook, Outlook Express, Thunderbird and
  Mail.app

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The look of UW-Madison digital certificiates
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Case Examples

• UW-Madison Survey Center
• University Health Services
• Division of Information Technology
• Social Sciences
• Various Help Desks across campus

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Current challenges

• Decentralized IT environment
• Cost
• Reaching critical mass
• Education
• Scaling
• User management and CRLs

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The cost of not doing PKI

• University of California at Berkeley
• Stanford University
• University of Tennessee
• George Mason University
• Qualcomm

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On the horizon

• Proposed digital signing of mass emails
• Proposed authentication to high value
  workstations and servers
• Proposed SSL certificates
• Convergence of other authentication technologies
• Digital signing as a replacement for ink
  signatures?

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Critical success factors

• Transparency to the end users
• Ease of administration
• A clear roadmap and menu of service offerings
• Organizational awareness and education
• Top down management support and awareness of the
  complexity related to PKI policy
• A willingness to understand that rolling out a
  PKI is an iterative process of continuous
  improvement

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Summary

• UW-Madison went live with PKI in September, 2005
• Macintosh and Windows
• Email and file encryption and signing
• PKI as a technology suffers in general from
  several implementation challenges
• Running a successful PKI is an iterative process
  with some degree of fluidity
• Benefits of implementing a PKI far outweigh the
  risks of not having a PKI

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Questions and feedback

• www.doit.wisc.edu/middleware/pki
• Nicholas Davis
• University of Wisconsin-Madison
• Division of Information Technology
• ndavis1_at_wisc.edu
• 608-262-3837