Skip to main content
Add as a preferred source on Google


Following Miscues, Ohio U Redoubling Security Efforts

  • By Paul McCloskey
  • 11/08/07
Ohio University CIO Bruce Bible has outlined plans to strengthen campus security practices and awareness following a series of setbacks over the last year, according to a report in The Post, OU's campus newspaper.

In a meeting to university trustees last week, Bible outlined the steps his office has taken to strengthen its security defenses and plans for the future, according to the Post.

In the first half of the 2006/2007 academic year, OU received more Digital Millennium Copyright Act notices from the Recording Industry Association of America than any other university. Five students are currently facing lawsuits filed in federal district court in Columbus, Ohio.

In 2005, the medical records of 60,000 people who had been treated at a campus health center and personal information of 300,000 university donors, including thousands of Social Security numbers, were exposed to hackers who breached university servers.

Bible told the trustees OU has taken several measures to improve campus computer security, including:
OU's Hudson Health Center went back online the Office of Information Technology staff configured and installed six new firewalls to protect the university's data center.

OIT stopped using Social Security numbers and replaced university ID cards, which contained unencrypted SSNs and student names.

Bible hired a new director of Information Security, who began work this month. He has also expanded the university's security team to five members. Bible also said he expects to fill eight more positions before the end of the year, including a director of systems and operations, firewall administrators, a security analyst, and director of  customer services.

In the file-sharing arena, OU purchased software to stop file-sharers, shut down at least one file-sharing network on campus and signed a contract with a subscription music service to provide free music to students.

Read More:

About the Author

Paul McCloskey is contributing editor of Syllabus.

Featured

  • Abstract Network of Blue and Orange Lines

    Tech Industry Leaders Launch Open Secure AI Alliance

    NVIDIA and 36 other partners are targeting agent security across multi-vendor clouds by combining open technologies for workload identity, agent controls, vulnerability scanning, and software supply-chain security.

  • Abstract neural network 3D illustration

    Intel® AI EmpowerED: The AI-Ready Campus, Delivered

    Artificial intelligence is transforming higher education, prompting institutions to rethink how they manage infrastructure, security, governance, and workforce readiness. Successful adoption requires a strategic, institution-wide approach that aligns AI initiatives with educational goals, faculty enablement, and scalable operational frameworks.

  • shattered digital cloud with red warning alert icons

    CSA's Top Cloud Threats: Identity, AI

    Cloud Security Alliance's 2026 Top Threats report ranks identity first while adding two AI-related risks to its list of 11 leading cloud security concerns.

  • Neon blue security locks with a single red highlight

    AI Shifts Cybersecurity Focus from Finding Flaws to Fixing Them

    For decades, one of cybersecurity's most difficult challenges has been finding vulnerabilities before attackers do. A growing number of security professionals now say artificial intelligence is changing that equation, shifting the focus from discovering flaws to fixing them quickly enough to prevent exploitation.