POSE: Phase II: An Open-Source Ecosystem for End-to-End Security and Research Security Platforms

This Pathways to Enable Open-Source Ecosystems (POSE) project expands secure and reliable access to digital infrastructure that supports science, education, and innovation. As society increasingly depends on online platforms for research, collaboration, and data sharing, protecting access to these resources is vital for advancing discoveries and maintaining public trust. This project addresses national cybersecurity challenges by creating open and sustainable solutions for managing digital identities, access controls, and sensitive credentials. By simplifying secure participation in distributed computing, the project enhances access to advanced technologies for researchers, educators, students, and small businesses. These groups benefit from easier and safer ways to utilize shared digital resources. Additionally, the project provides training opportunities to prepare future professionals to work with modern cybersecurity practices. Overall, these efforts will strengthen U.S. leadership in open-source software, enhance national competitiveness, and increase confidence in the digital foundations that support science and technology. This project develops a community-driven open-source ecosystem focused on secure authentication, authorization, and credential management in distributed systems. Using open standards and proven tools, it offers a framework that integrates federated identity, group and role management, and secure credential handling. The project aims to enhance current practices by integrating authentication and authorization more closely, enabling flexible policy enforcement, and simplifying integration across various computing environments. Activities include developing deployment workflows that are easier to adopt, strengthening security practices led by the community, and encouraging contributor involvement through transparent governance. Expected results include better tools for resource sharing, improved credential management, and more efficient security operations. By evolving into a sustainable ecosystem, the project aims to provide reliable infrastructure for secure scientific platforms, including research gateways and data analysis environments, thereby supporting reproducible research, collaborative innovation, and long-term resilience in national cyberinfrastructure. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.