“It’s a problem that is going to continue,” Dewey said. He said hackers using networks of computers called botnets can mass thousands of computers to attack a web site and shut it down.
“They can even use your home computer to attack the White House,” Dewey said.
University technology officials said in a recent survey that campus IT security had improved in the past five years, but botnet attacks that could take over entire computer infrastructures still lingered as a constant threat.
The Association for Information Communications Technology Professionals in Higher Education (ACUTA) surveyed computer officials in higher education at the organization’s annual conference in Atlanta in April. The survey found that eight out of 10 IT officials believe their campus infrastructure is safer than it was in 2004, with 6 percent saying they feel less secure.
Still, nearly half of respondents said their campus’s cyber security has been compromised in the last year alone, exposing at least some student information (though 70 percent of these incidents were characterized as minor). About 80 computer administrators completed the survey, an ACUTA spokeswoman said.
Links:
Cyber Security Education Consortium
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