Within 10 hours on Jan. 9 — midnight to 10 a.m. — computer hackers lurking in cyberspace scanned Virginia Tech’s computer networks 15,000 times, looking for a way to reach information, such as credit card or Social Security numbers, contained in some of the cabinet’s drawers.

That keeps people such as Randy Marchany busy, competing in a fast-paced race colleges run with hackers — some tied to organized crime — to safeguard information.

Many are falling behind.

As director of Tech’s information security lab, Marchany spends his time monitoring the university’s vast computer networks, hunting for potential break-ins, updating software, patching system holes and educating people about the best ways to protect their information online.

"Every time somebody comes up with a new hole and you find a fix for the attack, somebody comes up with a countermeasure," Marchany said. "It’s always very fluid."

And some protective steps, such as cutting off the university community’s access to certain Web sites or computer programs, aren’t acceptable solutions.

"Because we’re a university, and you’re maybe doing research, I’m not going to get in the way of you doing your job," Marchany said. "In a university environment, we have to be open."

But that doesn’t mean information isn’t protected.

Tech — and most schools — use tools such as firewalls and encryption to keep unwanted people from viewing their data.

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