The New York Times reports that as part of his plea deal, convicted identity thief John E. Christiansen has agreed to work with the U.S. Department of Education to help college officials protect themselves against student-loan fraud. Although the student-loan process was once entirely paper-based, it is now 90 percent web-based, making it easy for tech-savvy criminals to steal some of the $65 billion in financial aid available to students each year.