Category: Security
September 16, 2010, 05:50 PM ET
U. of Kentucky Hopes Facebook Places Sparks Campus-Privacy Conversation
The University of Kentucky is hopping on the geotagging
bandwagon, with a new Facebook Places initiative that the
institution hopes will start a campus discussion about online
privacy.
Facebook Places is a feature that allows registered users to reveal their real-life location by smartphone or laptop, which then appears in their status to all their “friends.” The concept doesn’t stray far from predecessors Gowalla and Foursquare, well, besides Facebook's 500-million-plus users worldwide.
Kelley Bozeman, Kentucky's director of marketing, said the social network’s wide appeal is what prompted her to launch a campaign just days after the popular site announced the feature—at the same time the American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California released a statement criticizing it for overlooking potential privacy problems.
Now, six wooden pointers resembling the Places logo are...
Read MoreJuly 6, 2010, 02:04 PM ET
Hackers Pull Prank at Bush Library at Texas A&M U.
Independence Day weekend saw an independent incursion into the Web site of the George Bush Presidential Library and Museum at Texas A&M University. According to a news report, campus officials said the intruders left a message in the "events" section of the site that read, "Say hi for George Bush. LOL. Saudi hackers...."
A Texas A&M technology official said the Web site's servers were not connected to any sensitive databases, such as those that contain personal information or financial records. So the only incendiary repercussions that day were from the fireworks display over the library.
April 2, 2010, 01:51 PM ET
East Stroudsburg U. Professor Returns After Suspension for Facebook Posts
After being suspended for jokes she made on her Facebook page about wanting to kill students a month ago, Gloria Y. Gadsden has been reinstated to her job at East Stroudsburg University of Pennsylvania. The associate professor of sociology returned to work on Wednesday after being cleared by a psychologist.
Ms. Gadsden was placed on paid administrative leave after a student complained about two comments she had made on her Facebook page: "Had a good day today, didn't want to kill even one student.:-) Now Friday was a different story ..." and "Does anyone know where I can find a very discrete [sic] hitman, it's been that kind of day."
Though Ms. Gadsden said her co-workers have been either welcoming or distant, a few of her students have been blatantly opposed to her return. She said on her first day back, three of her students "stormed out" of class, complained to the department chair ...
Read MoreMarch 11, 2010, 03:00 PM ET
Security Firm Says Universities Make Good Targets for Phishing
Students at universities in the United States have been pegged as good targets for online criminals, the security company RSA notes in a recent report.
The first month of 2010 marked a new record in the total number of monthly phishing attacks for RSA's Anti-Fraud Command Center, at 18,820, up from 8,497 in January 2009. The center now monitors more than 300 organizations in 140-plus countries. RSA, a division of the information firm EMC, says that it has noticed several attacks focused on servers at American universities so far this year, although no total is given, compared with a "minimal number" of total attacks in 2009.
"This sudden reversal may mark a new trend in phishing and online fraud—and a source for concern within the education sector," the report's authors write.
Scott L. Ksander, chief information security officer at Purdue University, said it's important to note that ...
Read MoreMarch 11, 2010, 10:00 AM ET
Georgia Tech Students Develop Digital Locks for Shared Bikes
Students in Emory University's bike-sharing program will soon be able to unlock the bikes they want to use by sending a text message. The university will replace its current system, which requires manually checking out a key, with the automatic one, developed by students at the nearby Georgia Institute of Technology.
Each bike in the new "viaCycle" fleet will be equipped with a GPS and locking system. When students or employees want to use a bike, they will send a text message with the bike's identification number to a server. The server will forward the request to the bike and unlock it automatically. After using the bike, the rider will use an attached cable to secure it anywhere and send another text message to lock it.
Five graduate students and one alumni of Georgia Tech's mechanical-engineering program won a $50,000 grant from the Ford Motor Company Fund to create the lock system...
Read MoreMarch 9, 2010, 10:00 AM ET
U.S. Naval Academy Expands Cybersecurity Program
In an effort to better prepare its students for cyberwarfare, the United States Naval Academy presented a plan to expand its cybersecurity program on Monday, the Associated Press reported. According to the AP article, the Naval Academy recognizes that it falls behind the other two major military academies -- the United States Military Academy and the U.S. Air Force Academy --in preparing its students to defend and attack computer systems.
The Naval Academy created a new Center for Cyber Security Studies in December 2009 and now offers cybersecurity internships with the National Security Agency and the National Defense University. The academy is testing two new courses in the computer-science department this semester: "Cryptology and Network Security" and "Computer Forensics." Another new course, "Fundamentals of Cyber Security," is designed for students of any major. Finally, a new club...
Read MoreFebruary 23, 2010, 01:16 PM ET
Senate Considers Paying for Cybersecurity Scholarships
The U.S. Senate has received a bill that would create scholarships and fellowships for students who agree to conduct research on cybersecurity.
The House of Representatives passed HR 4061, the Cybersecurity Enhancement Act of 2009, in a 422-5 vote on February 4. The bill, which has been assigned to the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, would require the National Science Foundation to develop a postdoctoral fellowship program in cybersecurity and information assurance, as well as reauthorize existing funds for students and research centers in the field.
The measure would also create a university-industry task force on cybersecurity research and development.
Other provisions of the bill, sponsored in the House by Daniel Lipinski (D-Illinois) would:
-- Authorize the NSF's cybersecurity scholarship-for-service program, which would offer scholarships to...
Read MoreFebruary 21, 2010, 08:39 PM ET
A University and a College in China Draw Attention in Google Hacking Investigation
By Mara Hvistendahl
Computer-security experts who are investigating the recent online attacks on Google and other companies have identified two institutions of higher education in China as suspected sources of the attacks, according to The New York Times. If those suspicions are confirmed, it would not be the first time one of those institutions has been linked to an international hacking incident: Seven years ago, a student at Shanghai Jiaotong University, claimed involvement in a 2001 hack that brought down the White House Web site.
While that student and others hacked independently, evidence suggests that administrators at Shanghai Jiaotong and its information-security school knew of the students’ activities. Administrators stood by as students formed hackers groups, organized hacking seminars, and exchanged tips on intrusion techniques.
But that doesn’t mean that the institution...
Read MoreJanuary 27, 2010, 01:00 PM ET
The Cost of Data Breaches Is Rising, Study Finds
A new report this week found that the average cost of a data breach at U.S. institutions last year was the highest it has been since the study began, five years ago.
The study, by the Ponemon Institute, was based on data gathered from 45 organizations, including some from the educational sector.
Among those surveyed, the average cost of a data breach rose from $6.65-million in 2008 to $6.75-million in 2009. Furthermore, the average cost per compromised record rose slightly, from $202 to $204. While educational institutions made up only 7 percent of the study, Michael Spinney, a senior privacy analyst at the institute, said the findings were still relevant to higher education.
"Any of the information that a commercial organization would have, it's likely that a school would have that information," Mr. Spinney said, citing payroll data and students' credit-card numbers as examples.
The...
Read MoreNovember 10, 2009, 01:07 PM ET
Improving Mobile-Device Security
As mobile phones begin functioning more like minicomputers, they also take on more security risks.
That's why the School of Computer Science at the Georgia Institute of Technology recently received a $450,000 grant from the National Science Foundation to work toward developing safer mobile devices and telecommunication networks that serve such devices. The project's researchers hope to protect mobile devices from viruses and malware that can steal personal information.
“Since mobile phones typically lack security features found on desktop computers, such as antivirus software, we need to accept that the mobile devices will ultimately be successfully attacked," said Jonathon Giffin, an assistant professor in the School of Computer Science, in a news release. "Therefore our research focus is to develop effective attack-recovery strategies.”
First, the researchers want to find out if...
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Each day on Wired Campus, The Chronicle's technology reporters highlight key IT developments and put them in perspective.