May 12, 2006

Colleges' Online Records Are Treasure to Hackers, Cybersecurity Expert Warns

By DAN CARNEVALE

At a recent conference sponsored by Educause, a higher-education-technology group, Fred H. Cate asked audience members if they knew just how much data a typical college keeps about each of its students.

Not only their names and Social Security numbers, but also a prodigious amount of other information about them is stored in a centralized database.

Grades, disciplinary records, and course listings are kept there. Students' high-school records, application information, and

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