This man eats worms and viruses for breakfast

In a world of hacks, scams, worms and viruses, keeping your personal computer secure is only as good as the programs and the people that protect it.\nAnd consider: have you updated your computer's virus protection recently? Do you let supposed friends know your account passwords? \nThese are just two important questions law professor Fred Cate wants students to ponder for safer and more efficient internet usage. Cate is the director of IU's Center for Applied Cybersecurity Research, which seeks to advance more secure Internet practices. \nThis multi-faceted operation includes members of University Information Technology Services, local industries, the Bloomington Police Department, federal and state government, as well other universities in order to improve the quality of information assurances, teaching and practices. The center was created April 17, 2003, and has since responded to the day-to-day needs of the cyber world, as well as co-sponsoring the Indiana Higher Education Cybersecurity Summit with former White House counterterrorism chief Richard Clarke as last year's keynote speaker. \nWhile the Internet was still a theory when Cate graduated from college, he attributes his involvement with cybersecurity to practicing First Amendment law.\n"My foundation in First Amendment Constitutional law combined with the inherent privacy issues concerning Internet usage brought me into this line of work," he said.\nThe center is vitally important to IU as it handles every aspect of Internet security. It works at both fixing existing problems, as well as inventing new and interesting threat prevention means. Living in a post-Sept. 11 world, Cate's line of work is in high demand.\n"We worry now about a terrorist attack against the Internet," he said. "Everything from train switches to chemical and nuclear plants are essentially controlled by computer. It's not just corporations and the government that should be fearful of Internet espionage. Identity theft is also becoming a growing problem for individuals, especially if someone can access your social security number to create false documentation."\nCate takes into account all aspects of cybersecurity. Collected government information needs protection to keep it out of the wrong hands, he said. \n"Problems posed through Internet espionage to access government buildings or even control satellite systems have and must continue to be addressed," Cate said. \nThis is a continuing concern as two national cybersecurity czars have retired in the past two years from the Department of Homeland Security. The latter, Amit Yoran, announced his departure from the department one day in advance, quitting last month. \nAccording to The Associated Press, Yoran's abrupt resignation was prompted by his frustration over a lack of focus on computer security issues within the Bush administration. His predecessor, Howard Schmidt, resigned in May 2003 to become the chief information security advisor for Ebay. \nStudents should feel safe, however, knowing that IU's Center for Applied Cybersecurity Research is working daily to solve real and hypothetical Internet problems. \n"I didn't even know they existed, but now that I do, I feel safer and more secure using the Internet," sophomore Daniel Stoner said. \nMany other students also didn't know the center existed and might typify a properly working system. Sometimes students don't realize the center is doing its job until something goes wrong.\nWhen it does, IU has professionals like Cate who know how to fix it.\n-- Contact staff writer Daniel \nDesloover at dmdesloo@indiana.edu.