Security/Privacy
- Feeling Smart at Nova Southeastern
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11/28/2007
A new "Shark Card" has been issued to more than 25,000 students, faculty, and staff at Nova Southeastern University incorporating both contact and RFID-enabled smart chips, plus biometrics.
- Bryant U Rolls Out NAC-Based Emergency Notification System
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11/27/2007
Bryant University in Smithfield, RI is expanding its emergency notification system for students, staff, and faculty. The university has adapted its Campus Manager NAC solution to provide alerts to its campus population through the system's messaging capability. The NAC-based solution is a supplement to the university's existing notification system, which includes voice and e-mail alerts.
- Coverity Adds Java Support to OSS Scan Service
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11/27/2007
San Francisco-based Coverity Inc. has expanded its static source-code analysis scanning solution. The solution now supports Java-based open source software (OSS) projects. Developers can check their OSS Java applications for free using Coverity's hosted solution. The solution scans applications and points out security and quality problems in the code without actually running the tested application.
- 'Connecting All Cars'--Rutgers Building Wireless Patrol Net
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11/26/2007
Rutgers University will design and deploy a wireless network that will connect its Division of Public Safety's 14 patrol vehicles.
- Mirage NACs Stave Off Storm Worm
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11/21/2007
Network Access Control systems from maker Mirage Networks can now recognize and isolate the Storm Worm, and variants thereof. The Storm Worm incorporates infected computers into a global, distributed botnet estimated to range in size anywhere between 250,000 and 10 million infected computers.
- Unified Threat Management Platform Expands Mail Security
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11/19/2007
Check Point Software Technologies today rolled out new versions of its Unified Threat Management appliances and software. The updates expand the range of protection the systems offer for e-mail, including adding a second layer of virus/malware protection and adding enhancements to spam filtering.
- Security Experts Alarmed by Exposed Database Servers
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11/16/2007
Responding to a soon-to-be released study revealing that as many as a half a million database servers aren't protected by firewalls, security experts contend the findings constitute a call to action for security pros and database administrators everywhere.
- Emergency Notification: Penn State Stays on Message
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11/15/2007
With 80,000 students and 24 campuses across a state that's intimately familiar with inclement weather, Pennsylvania State University clearly needs a reliable--and redundant--system of emergency notification.
- Historic GW University Rolling Out Security Messaging System
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11/15/2007
George Washington University is deploying GW Alert, a system based on ActiveAccess from BIA Information Network, a private label campus security application installed on student, staff and faculty computers to alert students to campus safety events.
- File Sharing Back in House Legislation
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11/12/2007
Illegal file sharing at colleges and universities is back on the agenda in Congress. In a bill introduced in the United States House of Representatives late last week by Reps. George Miller (D-CA, chairman of the Committee on Education and Labor) and Rubén Hinojosa (D-TX), language was introduced requiring institutions to deal with file sharing and the illegal distribution of copyrighted material by students. However, reports on the legislation (and responses to the reports) may be overstating the significance of the wording.
- CMU Research Team Analyzes Internet 'Miscreants'
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11/9/2007
A team lead by Carnegie Mellon computer science researchers has developed computer tools capable of following the operations of electronic black markets for viruses, stolen data, and attack services. Adrian Perrig, a CMU associate professor of electrical and computer engineering and public policy has led a team that developed the automated techniques to measure activities of spammers, virus writers, and identity thieves. In addition to Perrig, the team included Jason Franklin, a Ph.D. student in computer science, Vern Paxon of the International Computer Science Institute, and Stefan Savage of the University of California, San Diego.
- Security in 2007: No Surprises Here (Well Maybe a Few)
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11/9/2007
Well, the results for 2007 are in. And no surprises here, IT directors cite lack of staff resources, lack of funding, higher education’s culture, and lack of defined security policy as the biggest barriers to improving information security.
- Blackboard Commerce Suite To Integrate FeliCa Technology
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11/9/2007
Education technology developer Blackboard has partnered with Sony to deliver support for Sony's smart card technology in its Blackboard Commerce Suite for use with campus ID cards.
- Stanford Offers Advanced Security Certification Online
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11/9/2007
Stanford University this fall began to offer its advanced computer security certificate program completely online in an effort to improve access to the program.
- Following Miscues, Ohio U Redoubling Security Efforts
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11/8/2007
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.
- A Plan for Maximum Participation in Campus-Based Text-Messaging Alert Systems
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11/8/2007
How do you get students (and others) to opt in to text-messaging campus alert systems, such as the one used to good effect earlier this semester at the University of Colorado? Once they've opted in, how do you capture their attention and get them to keep your system loaded with their current information?
- Storm Botnet Ebbing, Says UC San Diego Analyst
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11/8/2007
An Oct. 20 presentation at the ToorCon hacker conference by Brandon Enright, a computer security researcher at the University of California, San Diego, struck a nerve in the CS community by concluding that the notorious Storm Worm could be losing steam.
- Symphoniq and F5 Offer User Monitoring Solution
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11/7/2007
Palo Alto-based Symphoniq Corp. has teamed with Seattle-based F5 to address application delivery problems on the client side--something that may not be well tracked by network administrators. Under a partnership deal, Symphoniq's TrueView Express client monitoring solution has been incorporated into F5's BIG-IP application delivery controller solution.
- IBM Unveils Converged Security Strategy
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11/6/2007
IBM is tackling security in a big way. Late last week the company unveiled a new strategy encompassing five broad aspects of security and launching new products, services, and research designed to address everything from data threats to physical vulnerabilities. The "first wave" in IBM's new security initiative targets "enterprise to edge" information security.
- FAST Launches Campus Security Grants
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11/6/2007
First Alert System Text (FAST) has launched a new grant program for colleges and universities, offering no-cost implementation and service for its text message-based emergency notification system. Through the Secure Campus Grant program, 100 higher ed campuses in the United States will be awarded the notification system.
- Web 2.0 Entails 'Sleeping Giant' Security Risk
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10/30/2007
As increasing numbers of enterprises climb aboard the Web 2.0 bandwagon, it's more important than ever for software developers to keep security in mind during the development process. So says Danny Allan, director of security research at Watchfire, the Waltham, MA-based Web-app security company acquired by IBM in July. Allan was in Santa Clara, CA to speak at this year's AjaxWorld show, and he took a few minutes to talk with me before his presentation.
- SNS Hunts Down Sensitive Data
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10/30/2007
That sensitive data resides on less-than-secure systems is a fact of university life. Over the last few years, there have been dozens of incidents in which stolen, lost, or hacked computers, hard drives, or removable storage devices resulted in more than 4.9 million reported users--students, faculty, staff, patients--having their personal or financial information exposed. And there isn't a lot IT staffs can do about it when they don't know which systems contain such sensitive data.
- Campus Security Report Card: C for Effort
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10/29/2007
Colleges and universities have done little over the last three years to improve information security. Hindered by lack of staff resources and funding, security efforts remain largely unchanged, while incidents of breaches--including the theft of personal information from within and without--continue to plague campuses. And, what's more, the integration of physical and IT security is still a reality in only a small minority of schools.
- Embry-Riddle Bolsters Security for Sensitive Data
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10/25/2007
Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University is beefing up its data security with a new identity management system designed to centralize and automate security processes across multiple systems. The university worked with security service provider Mycroft to develop and deploy its security strategy based around Oracle tools, including the Identity and Access Management Suite.
- Universities Deploy Oracle Administrative Systems
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10/24/2007
Several universities and colleges have recently purchased and deployed Oracle solutions for administration and marketing, the company reported at the Educause show in Seattle, WA. These include student lifecycle management, enterprise resource management, and marketing applications. Oracle provided details on three of these implementations: Brigham Young University-Hawaii, Hobart and William Smith Colleges, and Moody Bible Institute.
