Wireless Raises Security Concern

Abstract

As the number of computers on college campuses rises, and as IT becomes increasingly rooted in campus activities, higher education officials find themselves facing expanding numbers and kinds of threats to vulnerabilities in computer security. According to the Privacy Rights Clearinghouse (PRC), 50 million people have been involved in data breaches over the past seven months, including more than 30 incidents on U.S. college and university campuses. Complicating the challenge to IT security staff is the historically open nature of academic settings, a characteristic often at odds with strong computer security. Another factor making life difficult for IT staff are the computers that students bring to campus with them, often with inadequate or poorly configured security features. Jack Suess, vice president of information technology at the University of Maryland Baltimore County, however, noted that of the 11,000 to 12,000 computers on his campus this year, "there's probably only 200 or 250 I'm really worried about."