Security | News

Higher Ed Information Security Council Contest Seeks Student Videos

• By Dian Schaffhauser
• 10/15/12

Malware dressed like ninjas; a talking computer that warns its owner not to walk away, leaving it behind; a lone guy in a cavernous room using social engineering by phone to obtain private information from an unsuspecting student. These are the topics of a few of last year's winners in a video competition hosted by the EDUCAUSE & Internet2 Higher Education Information Security Council (HEISC). The latest contest was announced as part of October's National Cyber Security Awareness Month (NCSAM), an event promoted by Homeland Security and intended to draw attention to information security, data protection, and privacy programs.

EDUCAUSE is a higher education IT community, and Internet2 is a consortium of universities working with government and private industry entities on advanced networking technologies.

The contest seeks videos two minutes or less, 30-second public service announcements, or posters developed by college students to inform other students about safe computing practices.

The top three winners in each category will receive cash prizes--$2,000 for the top video and the top announcement and $1,500 for the top poster. The winners will also be featured on the HEISC Web site and may be used in campus security awareness campaigns.

The deadline for entries is March 8, 2013. Rules are available at educause.edu and last year's winners may be viewed on YouTube, Facebook, and Pinterest.

HEISC was formed in 2000 specifically to address the common security ailments of the higher education sector. The latest priorities focus on bring-your-own-device programs and cloud computing. The NCSAM website includes an online resource kit with templates, checklists, guidelines, training materials, and other tools contributed by Educause member universities and colleges.