The number of security breaches at colleges and universities has risen for the second year in a row, but the cause of the increase is still unclear, says Adam Dodge, who runs Educational Security Incidents, a Web site that tracks information breaches as they are reported.
According to Mr. Dodge, security breaches have already occurred this year at about 150 institutions, up from 112 colleges that reported such incidents in 2007. Only 65 institutions said they were affected by security breakdowns in 2006.
This year Mr. Dodge has noticed several incidents that have affected multiple universities. For instance, a laptop belonging to SunGard Higher Education, a provider of software and technology management services, was reported stolen last March. The machine contained sensitive information about students at more than 20 colleges and universities.
“There is simply not enough data to call anything a ‘trend’ at this point,” Mr. Dodge said in an e-mail interview. But he did offer a few possible explanations for the increase in reports of security breaches. News organizations have devoted more attention to information security, he said, and many states have installed breach-notification laws that prohibit institutions from keeping security incidents private. Then again, he pointed out, there could just simply be more breaches. —David DeBolt
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