The most common way campus IT officials deal with cyber security is through educating faculty, staff, and students on the multitude of computer threats that jeopardize the privacy of network users, according to the ACUTA survey. Fifty-eight percent of respondents said their campuses have computer education workshops or seminars, and Arthur said his campus’s resident assistants conduct lessons on safe approaches to accessing the local network.
“There’s no silver bullet,” he said. “It’s just a constant effort.”
Viruses and malware were named the top threat in the ACUTA survey, while internal controls ranked second and phishing–illegal communication seeking personal information–ranked third among common threats.
The ACUTA survey asked respondents to rank their technology security on a scale from 1 to 5, with 5 representing the best security. The average overall ranking from respondents was 3.7.
About one-fourth of those surveyed said technology projects have been delayed by security threats at their institutions.
Some U.S. campuses have ramped up access card security, ensuring that only faculty members and students are allowed into lecture halls and laboratories. Sharon Moore, director of telecommunications at Smith College in Northampton, Mass., said her campus is converting to proximity cards, which often have a transmitter inserted that sends a signal to a security system that tells a door to open.
While many colleges still use conventional access cards–which have magnetic stripes, similar to credit cards–the proximity cards are a sensible investment, Moore said. Magnetic stripes can be easily de-encoded, forcing students to buy new ones. A magnetic stripe card costs about 50 cents, and a proximity card costs $5, Moore said.
“There’s a greater convenience with the proximity card,” she said.
Jeri Semer, executive director of ACUTA, which has 2,000 members from 790 colleges and universities, said raising concerns about cyber security would not only protect pricey campus investments, but also guard students’ most sensitive personal information.
The goal of campus IT administrators “is to protect not only the networks themselves, but also the valuable confidential information that their institutions store on those networks,” Semer said. “The unfortunate truth about the advancements in information [and] communications technology is that the burden of keeping networks safe has only grown more challenging.”
The rise in identity theft and computer-related crimes, Moore said, has raised awareness among campus decision makers and spurred new investment in technology that could prevent security breaches.
“I think there’s just this consciousness of making sure that the network and the computer you’re working on are secure,” said Moore, who added that faculty and staff are coached on how to create complex passwords that can’t be easily guessed by outsiders. “All you need to know is one person who has been the victim of identify theft, and you’ll be sure to be careful.”
Links:
Washington University at St. Louis
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