At least 18 colleges are scrambling to inform tens of thousands of students that they are at risk of having their identities stolen after SunGard, a leading software vendor, reported that a laptop owned by one of its consultants was stolen. The extent of the problem is still unknown, though many of the campuses that have been identified are in…

Patrick A. Grant was stolen in April. A thief walked away with a laptop containing the University of Virginia biochemist's name and Social Security number, as well as those of more than 7,000 other professors, staff members, and students. The machine belonged to a university employee who had taken it off campus--and then it was simply taken. The…

User awareness is growing in importance when it comes to computer security. Not long ago, keeping college networks safe from cyberattackers mainly involved making sure computers around campus had the latest software patches. New computer worms or viruses would pop up, taking advantage of some digital hole in the Windows operating system or in…

In this article, the author discusses a computer program called Psiphon which bypasses government filters undetected. The University of Toronto's Citizen Lab, a research center for digital media and politics, designed Psiphon for technology-savvy activists. Some technology-savvy activists use other open-source software, like Tor (which relies on…

This article describes The Onion Router (TOR). It is a freely available, open-source program developed by the U.S. Navy about a decade ago. A browser plug-in, it thwarts online traffic analysis and related forms of Internet surveillance by sending your data packets through different routers around the world. As each packet moves from one router to…

Many professors, staff members, and even administrators see campus computers and e-mail accounts as their own private property--a type of employment benefit provided with no constraints on use. The fact is, universities "assign" computer equipment to personnel as tools to help them perform their jobs more effectively and efficiently, in the same…

"Chronicle of Higher Education" presents an abundant source of news and information for college and university faculty members and administrators. This September 24, 2004 issue of "Chronicle of Higher Education" includes the following articles: (1) "Thank You, Masked Man" (Reilly, Liam); (2) "The Trailing-Spouse…

"Chronicle of Higher Education" presents an abundant source of news and information for college and university faculty members and administrators. This April 1, 2005 issue of "Chronicle of Higher Education" includes the following articles: (1) "Hollywood Profits v. Technological Progress" (Ben-Atar, Doron); (2)…

"Chronicle of Higher Education" presents an abundant source of news and information for college and university faculty members and administrators. This May 7, 2004 issue of "Chronicle for Higher Education" includes the following articles: (1) "Athletics Director Caught in 2002 Resume Scandal Gets a Second Chance" (Suggs, Welch); (2) "NCAA Punishes…

"Chronicle of Higher Education" presents an abundant source of news and information for college and university faculty members and administrators. This January 28, 2005 issue of "Chronicle for Higher Education" includes the following articles: (1) "Wasting Money: A Failed Fund-Raising Trip Makes a Development Officer…

"Chronicle of Higher Education" presents an abundant source of news and information for college and university faculty members and administrators. This January 30, 2004 issue of "Chronicle for Higher Education" includes the following articles: (1) "Fighting to Get out of a Rio Slum" (Lloyd, Marion); (2) "Against…