A Digital Library of Computer-System Security Vulnerabilities

A study will determine the feasibility of using a digital-library system for computer-system vulnerability information. The system model will draw upon advances being made in multi-agency NII digital library research projects, library science techniques being developed for digital media, and standardized WWW technologies. Technical objectives include determining how best to: 1) catalog and classify vulnerability data for ease and accuracy of browsing, searching, identification, and access, 2) design the accessioning and curation process to ensure scalability and durability of the library, and 3) canvass vendors and other stakeholders to determine what security measures would be necessary to permit vendors and other stakeholders to contribute sensitive information. Areas of investigation will include selection of vulnerability taxonomies, and tools and methodologies for: managing catalog records, extracting indexes from catalog records, managing workflow, maintaining authority records for classification schemes (taxonomies), information browsing, and information finding agents which can search through catalogs entries, indexes, abstracts, and documents. Compliance with library science reference models and catalog standards will be emphasized, as well as GILS compliance to support linkages with other federal information services. Alternatives will be analyzed for reliability, cost-effectiveness and ease of use and operation.