Security/Special Projects
Information Security
Special ProjectsSecurity News in Higher Education Archive
Cybercrooks descend on Twitter with spam, attacks
Cybercriminals are rapidly using Twitter— the popular Web-messaging service — to direct users to websites that sell porn and fake drugs and trigger promotions for fake anti-virus subscriptions.
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Federal Grand Jury Returns Indictment on Internet Bomb Threats
The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Indiana announced that a three-count indictment was returned against Ashton Lundeby for his role in Internet bomb and related threats directed to Purdue University, Indiana University/Purdue University at Fort Wayne, Ind., and numerous other educational institutions throughout the country.
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Researchers say they can guess your SSN
There's a new reason to worry about the security of your Social Security number. Turns out, they can be guessed with relative ease.
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Security Breach Leaves 45,000 at Risk of Identity Theft
On Tuesday, June 23, Cornell informed more than 45,000 current and former members of the University community that their sensitive personal information — including name and social security number — had been exposed when a University-owned laptop was stolen earlier this month.
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What's behind the rash of university data breaches?
Purdue University last month reported its seventh data breach in the past four years. But Purdue is hardly alone. According to my records, over 300 publicized privacy incidents have occurred at U.S. institutions of higher learning since 2001, with at least 53 colleges and universities experiencing multiple breaches.
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Facebook bloggers reveal way to peek at private profiles
Two Facebook fans generated a load of free publicity for their new blog when, in their maiden post, disclosed a vulnerability in the social-networking website that could enable outsiders to view parts of profiles that are set to private.
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10 Privacy Settings Every Facebook User Should Know
A thorough overview on how to protect your privacy on Facebook.
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Botnet probe turns up 70GB of personal, financial data
Researchers from the University of California gained control over a well-known and powerful network of hacked computers for 10 days, gaining insight into how it steals personal and financial data.
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Users increasingly falling victim to malware distributed on Digg, YouTube
Infection of the malware called "VideoPlay," which has been spreading through malicious posts and comments on Digg and YouTube, increased 400 percent from January to February, according to Panda Security.
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160,000 accounts breached at UC Berkeley
The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley) has begun notifying more than 160,000 students, alumni and others about the potential compromise of their Social Security numbers, health insurance information and other personal data, following a database intrusion at the university.
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Conficker worm hits University of Utah
University of Utah officials say a computer virus has infected more than 700 campus computers, including those at the school's three hospitals.
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6,000 UW workers' personal information at risk
About 6,000 University of Washington employees were notified this week that their names and Social Security numbers were on a computer system that was hacked.
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ACU says computer server hacked
An Abilene Christian University computer server was hacked near the end of February, but university officials do not at this point believe any personal information was distributed.
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Binghamton University Jeopardizes the Private Information of Over a Hundred Thousand Individuals
Binghamton University has once again dropped the ball on securing the private information of students and parents. In a titanic breach of security, Binghamton University kept payment information for every student, possibly dating back at least ten years in a storage area next to one of the most trafficked lecture halls on campus, behind a door that was not only unlocked but taped open.
Feds file new felonies against alleged Palin hacker
A University of Tennessee student accused of illegally breaking into the email account of Alaska governor Sarah Palin has been hit with three new felony charges in connection with the case.
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Three months, three breaches at the Univ. of Florida-Gainesville
For the second time in three months, the University of Florida, Gainesville, has acknowledged a major data breach -- and a statement posted on the university's Web site indicated that there was a third, less-public breach discovered by the school during the same period.
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UA says probe continues of '08 hacking
Someone illegally gained access to 17 computer servers at the University of Alabama in November 2008. The computer hacking incident is still under investigation and no arrests have been made.
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Medical data leakage rampant on P2P networks
The risk of patient information disclosures on peer-to-peer (P2P) networks is much higher than if a health care worker loses a laptop or removable storage device, according to new Dartmouth College research.
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Educators see secure coding training challenges, improvements
College-level courses designed to train aspiring application developers in the latest secure coding practices are generally hard to find, but professors that run two of the most prestigious security training programs in the United States say course offerings are improving and students are lining up to take them.
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Hack forces Twitter into 'full security review'
Twitter Inc. has launched a comprehensive review of the defenses in its popular social network and microblogging service after hackers hijacked the accounts of several high-profile users.
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FBI investigating U of R identity theft
The FBI is now investigating a security breach at the University of Rochester. The university is still trying to figure out how all the information was copied.
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Hackers strikes LCCC system
A sophisticated computer hacker was able to breach the security system of two Lorain County Community College servers in an attack during the Thanksgiving holiday break.
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With lawsuit settled, MIT hackers now work with MBTA
Three MIT students who were sued earlier this year by the Massachusetts Bay Transit Authority said today they are now working to make the Boston transit system more secure.
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Keyloggers under the microscope
A team assembled by honeynet specialist Thorsten Holz from the University of Mannheim has published a case study of banking trojans, keyloggers and their dropzones. The researchers observed a variety of malware and their activities over an extended period and discovered over 33 GBytes of log files in the dropzones of over 70 different data-stealing pests.
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Student charged with hacking, blackmail scheme
A University of the Cumberlands student is accused of hacking into other students' accounts and using the information to blackmail them.
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Former Student Charged With Hacking UMaine E-Mail Accounts
Twenty-six-year-old James Wieland was arrested Wednesday at his home in Lewiston. The arrest stems from a 3-week investigation involving University of Maine campus police, the Maine State Police Computer Crimes Task Force and the United States Secret Service.
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Law professor fires back at song-swapping lawsuits
The music industry's courtroom campaign against people who share songs online is coming under counterattack.
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Student gets jail for crashing university servers
A 22-year-old University of Pennsylvania student has been sentenced to three months in prison and probation time, following a worldwide botnet computer bust.
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Tennessee Student Indicted for Palin E-Mail Hack
A University of Tennessee student and son of a Democratic Tennessee state lawmaker was indicted by a federal grand jury in connection with the hacked E-mail account of Sarah Palin, the Associated Press reports.
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Before the RIAA Can Sue a Student, Mom and Dad Can Call a Lawyer
Before the RIAA Can Sue a Student, Mom and Dad Can Call a Lawyer: An Interesting Innovation Affords Some Notice to Students Accused of Illegal Downloading
In recent years, college students on campuses through America have found themselves receiving letters or subpoenas from the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) accusing them of illegally downloading copyrighted music from the Internet. The RIAA locates these students by first learning the Internet Protocol (IP) addresses for the computers on which someone has downloaded music files from a peer-to-peer (P2P) website, and then connecting the computers with the individual students.
E-mail from Chancellor bashing greeks a hoax
An e-mail, with the sender posing as Chancellor Richard Herman, sent to students' CITES accounts Monday is a "prank," said Robin Kaler, associate chancellor for public affairs.
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Computer users overeager to click popup 'OKs'
Web surfers have a standard reaction to error messages that pop up in their Web browsers, according to new research published this week: They click "OK" and hope it will disappear.
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Hackers send 1.5m spam emails from OtagoUni
Hackers gained access to the University of Otago staff email server recently and used it to send out an estimated 1.55 million spam emails in 60 hours, after tricking four staff members into revealing their login details.
