An experiment in security at the University of Poitiers

Abstract

For several years, the University of Poitiers has gradually realized the strategic value, inescapable and irreversible, of the use of information processing. The mass of information dealt with and the number of users relying daily on this support require a reliable and performing infrastructure. Although they were the object of a moderate interest at the start, the problems resulting from how to make secure the information circulating between the users have been largely taken into account for the last four years at the highest level of the university. This growing awareness of the leading executives of the university has removed a lot of obstacles and has directed the security objectives very close to the needs of the users. However, one should not hide the problems that have been run into: most of the times they were net of a technical order. Indeed, it is necessary to define correctly the role played by the actors of the securisation and have it accepted and respected by all.