2014-06-02

InCommon Steering Committee Meeting - June 2, 2014

Attending: Jack Suess, John O’Keefe, Chris Holmes, Susan Kelley, Ken Klingenstein, Jack Suess, Steve Carmody, Mark Crase, Melissa Woo, Bill Yock, Joel Cooper, Dennis Cromwell, Klara Jelinkova

With: John Krienke, Jacob Farmer, Ann West, Steve Zoppi

Action Items

(AI) Dean will add an agenda item for August 2014 to revisit the progress of the move to SHA-2.

(AI) Jack and Klara will draft a message to CIOs re: importance of R&S, for approval before the next Steering meeting.

(AI) Dean will pencil in a Steering meeting adjacent to the REFEDS meeting and also place this topic on the agenda for the July call.

(AI) Steve Zoppi will share a summary of the submitted budget.

Minutes

The minutes from the May 2014 meeting were approved.

Extending Virginia Tech Certification

Jacob Farmer, vice chair of the Assurance Advisory Committee, reviewed an AAC recommendation to extend Virginia Tech’s assurance certification for an addition year (expiring Sept. 9, 2016). Virginia Tech’s compliance currently expires on Sept. 9, 2015 and must queue up now with the auditor in order to meet that date. The AAC will use this additional year to review potential methods for re-certification that may not require a re-audit.

The recommendation was approved unanimously.

Alternative Means for Bronze and Silver: Allowing SHA-1 Through Jan. 15, 2015

The AAC also recommends adoption of an alternative means for Bronze and Silver that would allow the use of the SHA-1 algorithm through January 15, 2015. This will allow the support for this legacy protocol as IdPs and SPs move to SHA-2. Currently, Shibboleth will not allow for support of both protocols.

The recommendation was approved unanimously.

(AI) Dean will add an agenda item for August 2014 to revisit the progress of the move to SHA-2.

FICAM Issues

John Krienke reviewed issues related to FICAM, which has made changes to the Trust Framework Provider criteria (InCommon is such a provider) with a six-month compliance window. InCommon is working to determine how the new compliance standards will affect the federation and its participants.

In addition, FICAM, without notice, downgraded the two FICAM compliant InCommon IdPs, Virginia Tech and the University of Nebraska Medical Center, to “token managers.” This affects other TFPs, as well, including Kantara, Safe BioPharma, and OIX. The downgrade could affect the ability to attract certain federal grants. InCommon has opted not to participate in a joint letter with the other TFPs, but to send a letter under Shel’s signature objecting to the downgrade without first communicating to the TFP and IdPs.

Interfederation

Interfederation (e.g. operating within eduGAIN) will require legal, policy and technical modifications for InCommon. Work is in progress both on technical changes needed and proposed legal and policy changes. As policy authority for InCommon, Steering will approve any proposed changes to the InCommon Participation Agreement and the Federation Operating Policies and Practices (FOPP). The policy changes are being discussed with Internet2 legal, then will be provided to Steering for comments. John Krienke and Ann West will also be recommending a process to use for these changes.

NSF-Funded VOs

Ken Klingenstein reported on issues being confronted with the science virtual organizations. One such VO, LIGO, has worked with InCommon for several years, embracing federated identity and attracting the attention of other VOs. With the slow uptake on the Research and Scholarship Category by IdPs, however, LIGO is spending a lot of time negotiating attribute release. LIGO will be accessing the eduGAIN metadata through the Swedish federation and will also deploy a social identity option for researchers.

Steering discussed ways to quickly get more IdPs to release the R&S attributes. Some of the barriers seem to be 1) communicating with IdP operators and not CIOs, and 2) schools mis-interpreting FERPA as apply to these attributes (which, on most campuses, would be considered directory information).

This is a pressing need. (AI) Jack and Klara will draft a CIO message for approval before the next Steering meeting.

TIER Charter Subcommittee

This group will have its first meeting next week.

Technology Exchange/Identity Week and Steering