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Home » About Norwich » SGS Today »
Information Assurance Architecture by Keith Willett (Auerbach Publications, June 2008).
MSIA coursework lays foundation for key industry publication
by Benjamin Newell, staff
© Aug. 15, 2008 Norwich University Office of Communications
Keith Willett just wanted to study information assurance architecture. In the end, he wrote the book on it.
Willett, 45, a 2005 graduate of Norwich University School of Graduate Studies' (SGS) Master of Science in Information Assurance (MSIA) program, not only earned his degree in the subject, but with the help of SGS faculty and staff he turned much of his schoolwork into what is potentially the foremost text on the subject.
Information assurance architecture is to information assurance what architecture is to building — an overall view of the entire system that addresses the core issues of function, design and logistics. This approach addresses more than the technological considerations when building a secure computer network. Until the publication of Willett's book, Information Assurance Architecture, there was no comprehensive reference for the study.
Willett, who runs a business risk management consulting service in Severna Park, Md., entered the MSIA program in pursuit of the best way to model business risks to his clients, and to coherently explain how information assurance addresses those risks.
Willett decided that what he really needed was an architectural framework and lexicon to help him present his work to his clients. When he couldn't find one, he came to SGS, where he formed a partnership with MSIA Associate Director Dr. Peter Stephenson and MSIA Administrative Director Elizabeth Templeton.
"I liked the SGS approach better [than other available programs] because it gave [me] interim feedback and interim goals to shoot for, whereas the other schools' approach was 'study this and get back to us in a year,'" Willett said.
Willett received permission from MSIA Program Director Dr. Michel Kabay to pursue the theme of information assurance architecture in each of his MSIA papers. According to Willett, of the 60-some papers he wrote for his program, more than 90 percent carried an architectural theme, or at least placed his subject of study in an overarching architectural context.
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“At root, all information security problems are architecture problems.” |
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In his final term, Willett took all of his previous work and refined it into a Master's thesis-quality paper entitled Information Assurance Architecture, which he presented at Residency in June of 2005.
That's when the work really began.
Willett had begun contemplating having his work published. All he needed was to rework his final paper into book form and find a publisher. Both, he found, were easier said than done.
Willett spent two years reworking his paper, all the while continuing his full-time consulting work. Then, he needed an editor. Turning to Kabay for suggestions, he was directed to Templeton, an MSIA staff member and a regular editor of many of Kabay's articles. Over the course of eight to 10 weeks, Templeton and Willett collaborated to get the book ready for publication.
In finding a publisher, Willett was aided by Stephenson, who along with Kabay was the most encouraging of Willett's professors in his study of information assurance architecture. According to Stephenson, architecture is an increasingly important topic, primarily because networks are becoming more complicated.
"In the past, networks simply fell together, often as a result of business acquisitions," he said. "Now, networks must be much more complicated to deal with more complicated influences: Globalization, [demands for] telecommuting capabilities, and the fact that the bad guys [who want to break in] are getting better by the day."
"At root," Stephenson said, "all information security problems are architecture problems."
Stephenson recommended Willett's work to Richard O'Hanley, publisher at Auerbach Publications, an imprint of Taylor & Francis Group specializing in the IT industry. Auerbach agreed to publish the book.
O'Hanley had nothing but good things to say about the book, which was published in June of 2008 — "the best book ever written on the subject, hands down," he said.
Six years after commencing his study, Willett can now breathe a sigh of relief.
"I feel like graduation in June of 2005 was the penultimate experience in the Norwich University MSIA program," he said. "Publication of Information Assurance Architecture was [like] the final MSIA task."
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