In a move that could help keep higher-education campus networks safe, Microsoft Corp. released a beta test of a free computer security program on June 23 and is on track to launch a finished product in the fall. Key words: computer security, school security, campus network security, Microsoft Corp., education, technology

Campus computer networks are better protected than they were five years ago, college and university IT administrators said in a newly released survey, but they warned that the viruses student computers can bring to a network still linger as a threat to expensive servers, other hardware, and software. Key words: computer security, cyber security, ACUTA, Washington University at St. Louis, Smith College, botnets, computer viruses, education, technology

Campus computer networks are better protected than they were five years ago, college and university IT administrators said in a newly released survey, but they warned that the viruses student computers can bring to a network still linger as a threat to expensive servers, other hardware, and software. Key words: computer security, cyber security, ACUTA, Washington University at St. Louis, Smith College, botnets, computer viruses, education, technology

Hackers have compromised as many as 40,000 legitimate web sites, infecting them with malicious JavaScript that ultimately redirects users to a malicious site, eWeek reports.

Facebook on May 15 was blocking links to bogus web sites set up to look like the home page of the popular online social network in a "phishing" attack by hackers, AFP reports.

A bill that would overturn the federal ban on internet gambling has some educators wondering how minors, including students using school computers, would be prevented from logging onto the betting sites from home and during school time. Key words: online gambling, underage internet gambling, acceptable use policy

Is your computer acting funny? Are you worried that you might have visited a malicious web site or opened an eMail attachment with malware? Now, you can now go to a new web site that McAfee is launching on April 28, designed to help computer users figure out if they have legitimate reason to be concerned, CNET reports.

The malware seeded by pirated software months ago and creating what was dubbed iBotnet by Symantec security researchers proves the concept of botnets on Apple systems, but doesn't achieve major botnet status, eWeek reports.

For the social networking site Twitter, it was a headache and potential threat. But for the young man behind the computer worm that attacked the micro-blogging site last week, it was a fast track to a job, reports ABCNews.com.

University of Wisconsin-Madison police said they've seen a significant spike in laptop computer thefts on campus in recent months, prompting new calls for vigilance, WISC-TV reports.

Hackers made off with at least 285 million electronic records in 2008, more than in the four previous years combined, according to a new study that shows identity thieves are getting better at exploiting careless mistakes that leave organizations vulnerable to attack, reports the Associated Press.

University of Utah officials say a computer virus has infected more than 700 campus computers, including those at the school's three hospitals. Key words: Conficker, University of Utah, computer virus

Computer users' growing fear of worms and viruses could be behind a recent spike in attacks on PCs via bogus security software, according to a Microsoft report published April 8, Reuters reports.

The Conficker internet worm's feared April Fools' Day throwdown for control of millions of infected PCs stirred lots of panic but came and went with a whimper, reports the Associated Press.

There's been lots of hype about the fact that the latest variant of the Conficker worm is set to start communicating with other computers on the Internet on April 1--like an April Fool's Day time bomb with some mysterious payload, CNet reports.

The fast-moving Conficker computer worm, a scourge of the internet that has infected at least 3 million PCs, is set to spring to life in a new way on April Fools' Day, security experts say. Key words: Conficker computer worm, network security, internet security threat, college computer security

The superintendent of Westfall Local Schools in Pickaway County, Ohio, has resigned after admitting to misusing his school computer, reports WBNS 10TV.

The Conficker worm is scheduled to activate on April 1, reports the New York Times, and the unanswered question is: Will it prove to be the world's biggest April Fool's joke -- or much, much worse?

Massive "botnet" networks -- armies of infected computers formed by spreading a computer virus that orders compromised machines to phone home for further instructions, such as sending out spam or relaying passwords -- are sucking up personal data from millions of people at an alarming rate, and school and college networks are common targets of these attacks. A recent find by security researchers offers a glimpse at the damage done by one of these botnets and how hard it can be to shut them down.

UK primary school sites are being targeted by sleazy hackers in an attack that has reportedly resulted in hardcore porn appearing on web pages bearing school logos, reports The Register.

Kansas State University is notifying 45 students who were enrolled in an agricultural economics class in spring 2001 that some of their personal information was inadvertently exposed on the internet through a K-State departmental web site--underscoring the danger of using Social Security numbers as student identifiers. Key concepts: student ID, information security, identity theft protection, kansas state university.

Thieves had better think twice before stealing a computer from the Fort Worth, Texas, school district, reports the Dallas Morning News: Fort Worth school officials say police have recovered a laptop computer taken from one of their schools because a tracking device had been installed on it.

Microsoft Corp. is taking the unusual step of issuing an emergency fix for a security hole in its Internet Explorer software that has exposed millions of users to having their computers taken over by hackers, reports the Associated Press.

The Australian government plans to test a nationwide web filter that would require internet service providers to block access to thousands of sites containing illegal content, reports the New York Times.

If a Lenovo laptop is lost or stolen, now there is a new way to remotely shut it down, reports PC World: Just text it. Lenovo plans to announce on Nov. 25 the Constant Secure Remote Disable service, allowing users to remotely disable a PC by sending a text message.

Hackers have seized on the enormous popularity of the Disney movie High School Musical 3 to spread Trojan horses, adware, and other malicious code, reports CNET--a development that could give educators a timely reason to teach students of the dangers of internet scams, and using peer-to-peer networks to share files in particular.

In the constant struggle to keep kids safer online, a new solution is emerging that enlists the help of schools in age-verification techniques to ensure that online predators are kept off child-friendly web sites. But some critics say this puts schools in a questionable role, because the information they provide can be used to target age-appropriate advertising to their students.

Students at Dakota State University are learning to be hackers, so they can help protect computer networks in the future--and it's all part of a government program in place at dozens of institutions nationwide, reports the Argus Leader.

Hackers have seized on the results of the U.S. presidential election to launch a major malware campaign that tries to trick users into installing an update to Adobe Systems Inc.'s Flash, but actually plants a Trojan horse on unprotected PCs, Computerworld reports.

Henry County, Va., Schools unveiled an internet safety comic book Oct. 22 to help both children and parents navigate the web safely, reports the Martinsville Bulletin.

Savvy internet users know that downloading unsolicited computer programs is one of the most dangerous things you can do online, because it puts you at great risk for a virus or another time bomb from a hacker. But even some sophisticated surfers could get taken in by a sneaky new attack in which criminals create fake YouTube pages--dead-on replicas of the real site--to push their malicious software and make it look like it's safe stuff coming from a trusted source, reports the Associated Press.

On a single day this week, 332,000 eMails came into the University of South Carolina-Aiken eMail server addressed to students, faculty, and staff, reports the Morris News Service--and 97 percent of them were spam.

Test scores, birth dates, and other personal information for more than 100,000 students were published accidentally on The Princeton Review's web site this summer, according to the New York Times.

A criminal gang is using software tools normally reserved for computer network administrators to infect thousands of PCs in corporate and government networks with programs that steal passwords and other information, a security researcher has found, according to a New York Times report.

Trend Micro has released the findings of its "Threat Roundup and Forecast" for the first half of 2008, which noted an upswing in online threats, but steady decreases in adware and spyware, eChannelLine reports.

The University of Florida has launched a privacy investigation, looking for students and faculty members who might have leaked confidential information about a controversial admissions decision, reports the Gainesville Sun.

A team of students from Baker College (Mich.) won first place in the National Collegiate Cyber Defense Competition (NCCDC), a cyber defense competition that lets teams of full-time college students apply their IT knowledge to business operations and work to protect an existing network infrastructure.

According to an audit released April 4, University of Wisconsin campuses should do more to protect the vast amount of personal data stored in their computer networks, the Associated Press reports.

A former Kaplan University dean has been indicted on federal charges that he hacked into the Fort Lauderdale, Fla.-based online school's computer system to send threatening eMail messages to students and faculty, reports the Miami Herald.

A group led by a Princeton University computer security researcher has developed a simple method to steal encrypted information stored on computer hard disks...

Cyberbullying incidents -- along with complaints from teenagers, parents and educators -- are spurring an increasing number of state lawmakers across the nation to draft legislation giving schools more power to do something about bullying over the internet...

Because of the intricate web of information stored in computers across college campuses, they are increasingly becoming targets for hackers, said Walter Conway, a private consultant with Walter Conway Associates who works with colleges to help protect their payment systems...

Computer passwords will get tougher for thousands of Jefferson County, KY, teachers, after two high school seniors were involved in a scheme to hack into school computers to boost grades, erase absences and post coming tests...

Even the slightest mistype in a URL can have dangerous repercussions. And such sites for children and teens can be especially dangerous, as many are designed to expose children to pornography...

A University of Pennsylvania junior is one of eight people charged in the latest phase of an FBI investigation into the criminal use of botnets, or collections of compromised computers under the remote control of a hacker.

Sydney Morning Herald (Australia): In Australia, cyber bullying is a relatively new type of harassment but the federal government says it is not unusual. According to 2007 statistics on the government's NetAlert web site, 16 per cent of children say they have been bullied online and 14 per cent have been bullied using a mobile phone. Worse still, cyber intimidation pushes the frontiers of bullying--it can take place any time, anywhere. This has led to a broadening of the definition of bullying. ...

With more than half of all teenagers who go online using social-networking web sites such as FaceBook.com or MySpace.com on a regular basis, it's not surprising that cyber bullying is on the rise...

Perhaps nowhere in K-12 education are decisions about network security more important than in the day-to-day activities of schools' technology administrators--the ed-tech specialists who work on the front lines, supporting and protecting not only their school districts' networks, but also the administrators, teachers, and students who engage the digital world.

In one of the worst security breaches ever in a public K-12 school system, confidential data for thousands of Indianapolis Public Schools (IPS) students--including, in some cases, medical information and Social Security numbers--were accidentally posted online.

Two laptop computers containing the names and Social Security numbers of about 40,000 current and former employees of the Chicago Public Schools were stolen from district headquarters April 6.

As schools take steps to protect the security of data on their computer networks, experts warn they also should consider securing copiers and scanners that could be used to copy sensitive information.

A hot line was swamped with panicked calls yesterday after the University of Missouri disclosed that its computer system had been hacked last week and that the names and Social Security numbers of 22,396 people had been accessed, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports. The hackers, using internet addresses from China and Australia, tapped into a report containing information about people who were employed by any of the system’s four campuses in 2004 and were current or former students at the Columbia campus, said university spokesman Scott Charton. People who fit those criteria should be aware that their information could have been stolen and should take steps to minimize the risk of identity theft, Charton said ...

Thefreenewmexican.com reports that a computer malfunction has caused the loss of academic data for hundreds of Eastern New Mexico University Students. Experts say that the temperature increased in a room at the Roswell campus that houses a server, causing it to crash. In addition, a backup system also failed. The system, WebCT was backup by Friday; however, the data was not able to be recovered. About 700 students were enrolled in WebCT, which is used to conduct online courses and class discussions...

The Janesville Gazette of southern Wisconsin reports that a group of residents is calling for Big Foot School District Superintendent Thomas Nykl to be fired over an alleged security breach. Concerned Citizens for Big Foot High School plans to present a petition to the school board May 3 asking it to dismiss Nykl, who is accused of asking his son to crack the school's computer system for staff passwords. School Board President Sue Pruessing defended Nykl, saying he had to ask his son's help to find computer passwords because staff originally refused to hand them over. The district superintendent is supposed to have access to those passwords, she said. The school district has been without a computer administrator since that person resigned two weeks ago...

In a case with chilling implications for educators nationwide, a Connecticut substitute teacher is now a convicted felon after a jury found her guilty of exposing students to online pornography.

In the campaign to secure sensitive school information, experts warn that digital copiers and scanners are an often-overlooked front. Most newer digital copiers store the data being copied on a disk drive--and if the data on these disks aren't protected or overwritten, they could fall into the wrong hands.

Ohio University has hired a new technology chief to oversee computer systems that hackers compromised in a high-profile security breach last year, the Columbus Dispatch reports. The university announced March 7 that Brice Bible, 45, will become chief information officer April 16. He currently is interim chief information officer and assistant vice president for information technology at the University of Tennessee at Knoxville. The university last April discovered breaches in four computer systems, exposing about 367,000 files containing Social Security numbers, names, medical records, and home addresses. The school fired two administrators over the electronic break-ins and spent millions to upgrade computer security ...

A substitute teacher in Connecticut has been convicted of exposing students to pornography on a classroom computer in a high-profile, and controversial, case. Prosecutors claim she clicked on pornographic web sites, but the teacher says she's the victim of graphic pop-up images generated by spyware and adware.

In what is believed to be one of the largest computer security breaches ever at a U.S. school, a hacker broke into a UCLA database containing the names, Social Security numbers, and other personal information of some 800,000 current and prospective students, school officials said Dec. 12. Though not all of the records were accessed, officials are urging anyone who might have been affected by the breach to contact credit reporting agencies and take steps to minimize the risk of identity theft.

The Education Department became the latest federal agency to fall victim to a series of data security breaches in recent months, when users of its federal student-loan web site had their personal information appear during a routine software upgrade from Aug. 21 to Aug. 23. Federal officials say the vendor responsible will offer free credit monitoring for those affected by the breach.

In the wake of an audit that resulted in the suspension of two top-level information technology staffers, officials at Ohio University (OU) are working to correct mistakes that compromised 173,000 Social Security numbers in school computers.