Click here to receive your FREE subscription to Campus Technology
In This Issue
IT Security: Does it make the Grade?
12/29/2005
Straw poll finds IT security a priority in higher education—albeit an underfunded one.
THE 2005 REPORT CARD |
|
| Security Element | Grade |
|---|---|
| Administration Priority | A– |
| Faculty Support | B |
| Student Support | C– |
| Administration Support | B+ |
| Funding | C |
| Staff Time | C |
| Overall Security Profile | B– |
| While administration and faculty commitment to IT security earned high scores, funding and staff time allocations received lower marks, as did student support. Source: “CDW-G Higher Ed Security Report Card 2005.” Used with permission. | |
CDW-G has released the results of its informal 2005 sampling of 102 higher education IT professionals on the topic of IT security. In an attempt to understand barriers to improving IT security on campus, survey questions were designed to gauge levels of support by administration, faculty, and students for IT initiatives, as well as to examine administrative prioritization, staffing, and funding. Researchers assigned “grades” based on participant responses, and CDW-G issued a “report card” for 2005.
A’s and B’s for faculty and administrators. Among the key takeaways from the brief study is that IT security is not “counter to the culture” in higher education: 69 percent of respondents characterized it as a top or very high priority for administrators, 73 percent said that faculty support security policies, and 87 percent reported that security policies are supported by their executive administration. Clearly, IT security makes the grade as a priority in higher education institutions.
Funding, staffing, and students get C’s or lower. Despite the priority recognition of IT security on campus, lack of funding is a significant barrier to improving security—identified by 50 percent of respondents as their biggest barrier.
Recommended Reading
- Sun, Stanford Working To Archive History
In May in San Francisco, experts from leading universities, libraries, and research institutions around the world met as part of an ongoing effort to address a pressing issue: archiving the world's history, right up to today.
- The Quilt Coalition Rolls Out XO Communications for High-Capacity Network Services
The Quilt, a coalition of 28 regional network organizations, has added XO Communications Services to its authorized vendor list. The Quilt represents 200 universities and thousands of other educational institutions across the United States. With this new relationship, Quilt members can purchase XO's high-speed IP transit and network transport services at competitive rates.
- Wimba Classroom 5.2 Expands Classroom Capture Support, Adds MP3 Downloads
At the NECC 2008 conference in Texas this week, Wimba launched a new version of Wimba Classroom, the virtual classroom component of the company's Collaboration Suite. The new 5.2 release expands options for classroom capture and adds a variety of other functional and ease of use features.
- Automation Chimera: Education Is Not Management
The lure of automating workflow online so human intervention is minimized is continually reinforced in the minds of higher education administrators by examples of automated campus systems such as financials, student information systems, and other enterprise systems. But what's good for management is not always good for learning.
- Cognos Releases BI Software for Linux-based IBM System z Mainframe
Cognos, which IBM acquired in January, has released an update to its business intelligence software that will run on the Linux operating system on IBM System z mainframes. IBM Cognos 8 BI was being developed by the two companies prior to the acquisition, but assimilation of Cognos into IBM accelerated development.
- Facebook and Collegiality: A Serendipitous Social Niche
Facebook is a way to greet a colleague as if she or he is on your own campus: a wave at a distance, a hello at the corner burrito place, a honk as you both leave the campus parking lot. Informal collegiality has been extended over the miles.
