Campus Security :: March 9, 2007

  • 03/09/07

Security Spotlight

The Internet Crime Cafe
By Doug Gale
It was the late 1980s, the era of VAXes and the NSFNET. Needing more disk space, one of our students hacked the account of a faculty member who was on sabbatical at another university. His exploits, which soon included computers from coast to coast, went unnoticed until the student forwarded an important but unread e-mail to the faculty member's sabbatical account. After explaining to the student the error of his ways and thanking him for his honesty in coming to the aid of our faculty member, we hired him.

In retrospect, perhaps our response should have been the same as the response to the plea, "Don't be afraid," in 1986 horror film, The Fly: "Be afraid. Be very afraid." Just as the lead character of the film, a brilliant but eccentric scientist, changed into something more malevolent than what he was before, so hacking has changed as well. While there are still lone hackers, motivated by the intellectual challenge, they have been largely supplanted by skilled teams whose objective is money, whose business model is organized crime, and whose scale is global. In the February 2006 issue of Business Week, Paul Horn estimated that 85 percent of malware today is created with profit in mind....

Installations

UPMC Center for Biosecurity Adopts SiteExecutive
The Center for Biosecurity at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC) has launched two websites using SystemExecutive from Systems Alliance, an IT and business consulting firm. SystemExecutive is designed to help design and publish websites....
John Jay School of Criminal Justice Deploys IP-Based Access Control System
DVTel Inc. recently announced that John Jay School for Criminal Justice employed the company's IP-based Longitude IPAC (IP access control) system to provide security for more than 20,000 students, faculty, and staff at three college buildings in New York City....

Data Protection

MIT Wants to Quell Student Hacker Felony Charges
MIT administrators are working with Middlesex County, MA district attorney's office to transfer the felony trials involving three students who were charged with trespassing in the MIT faculty club to an internal university disciplinary committee, "The Tech," a campus news service, reported....
Sendio Launches E-Mail Security Program for Education
By David Nagel
E-mail security solutions provider Sendio this week launched a new program for higher ed and public and private K-12 schools. The company is making its I.C.E. Box e-mail security appliance available for half price to qualifying institutions....

Facilities Protection

Northwestern U To Boost Dorm Security
Northwestern University officials will be installing security cameras and hiring uniformed security monitors beginning next fall, Vice President for Student Affairs William Banis announced at a recent Associated Student Government Senate meeting....
Some Students Feel Safer at San Jose State University with Police Escorts
The overall safety at San Jose State University on a daily basis can be summed up in two words: "very safe," according to University Police Sgt. John Laws....

Coming Up

Conference on Global Terrorism: Preparing For the Next Attack
Managing Risk in an Uncertain World
ASIS International
Arlington, VA, MARCH 19-21, 2007
ISC West
Las Vegas, NV, MARCH 28-30, 2007
Managing Your Physical Security
ASIS International
Seattle, WA, APRIL 23-25, 2007
CPM West 2007
Las Vegas, NV, MAY 22-24, 2007
United States Crime Prevention Through
Environmental Design Conference (CPTED) 2007
Las Vegas, NV, AUGUST 1, 2007

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