Who hasn't received mail from a company notifying them that their personal information may have been compromised? No organization--not Amazon, not the CIA--is immune to cyberattacks, and higher education is no exception. Indeed, colleges and universities may be even more susceptible to security breaches than their corporate brethren, and the…

Too often, organizations make the mistake of treating malware infections as a series of independent occurrences. Each time a malicious program is discovered, IT simply cleans up or rebuilds the affected host, and then moves on with routine operational tasks. Yet, this approach doesn't allow the institution to keep up with the increasingly…

If a school is seeking to incorporate more collaborative approaches to teaching and learning, the design of the learning environment--whether it's a classroom or a more informal space--can be a critical factor in making this transformative move. Technology, in particular, can play a pivotal role in enabling students to work effectively in teams…

In this article, the author offers six best practices for physical and data security convergence. These are: (1) assess the cable plant; (2) choose wisely; (3) be patient; (4) engineer for high availability; (5) test the converged network to make sure it works; and (6) don't forget the humans.

This article describes how centralized presentation control systems enable IT support staff to monitor equipment and assist end users more efficiently. At Temple University, 70 percent of the classrooms are equipped with an AMX touch panel, linked via a Netlink controller to an in-classroom computer, projector, DVD/VCR player, and speakers. The…

The late 1980s was an exciting time to be a CIO in higher education. Computing was being decentralized as microcomputers replaced mainframes, networking was emerging, and the National Science Foundation Network (NSFNET) was introducing the concept of an "internet" to hundreds of thousands of new users. Security wasn't much of an issue;…

Without proper security, mobile devices are easy targets for worms, viruses, and so-called robot ("bot") networks. Hackers increasingly use bot networks to launch massive attacks against eCommerce websites--potentially targeting one's online tuition payment or fundraising/financial development systems. How can one defend his mobile systems against…

Managing resource usage and data delivery with virtualization devices is a staple of many of today's data infrastructures. By breaking the traditional direct physical access and inserting an abstraction layer, what one sees is what he/she gets, but the mechanics of delivery may be quite different. The reason for the increase in virtualization…

The word "architect" calls to mind a designer of buildings. An architect's job is to develop a structure to fit the client's needs, some of which are conflicting (or seem to be). When it comes to designing a campus network, IT infrastructure architects have a similar function. Like a building architect, an IT architect must develop a…

University CIOs and their municipal counterparts will need to ensure that broadband systems provide plenty of bandwidth for hundreds of different devices used by thousands--and perhaps even millions--of users. Some university WiFi networks are already clogged with too many users. Moreover, universities must somehow provide wireless network access…

This article features the 14 winners of the 2008 Campus Technology Innovators. This article offers an insider's view of the winners' campus technology initiatives, their project leads, and vendor partners jointly recognized for a unique ability to advance teaching, learning, administration, and operation on North American college and university…

October is national Cyber Security Awareness Month, and for the world of higher education, that means it is time to take a look at defense systems and plan for the future. Clearly, more planning is needed now than ever before. According to the majority of IT market research firms, phishing and identity theft have leapfrogged spam and spyware as…