Modern higher education institutions must contend with a litany of cyber threats, regulations, and environmental dynamics. These institutions are increasingly being targeted due to the value of the data they possess and their historically permissive configurations that are intended to support academic freedom. Many universities are implementing…

Colleges and universities continue to expand their curricula to include cybersecurity as an explicit course of study in political science. But what is taught in a course on cybersecurity? Are syllabi deep dives into technology, broad romps through contemporary policy debates, or do they reflect a more varied disposition? Studying the syllabi of an…

With the recent proliferation of information technology, almost all users of technology, no matter the field, profession, or status, have experienced a commensurate increase in information security threats. This, in turn, creates a significant concern in higher institutions of public learning. Information Security Officers in public higher…

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.

There's no silver bullet to information security; universities must continue to keep their antivirus, anti-spyware, firewall, and patch management systems in good working order. These days, the largest target for hackers appears to be university databases. Now, universities are searching for new solutions to safeguard those systems. This article…

This article discusses what colleges and universities can learn from Uncle Sam and corporate America when it comes to designing secure networks and ensuring privacy. After all, schools face many of the same privacy and information security challenges seen in the business and government sectors. The fact of the matter is, in the age of cyber crime…

The Association Supporting Computer Users in Education (ASCUE) is a group of people interested in small college computing issues. It is a blend of people from all over the country who use computers in their teaching, academic support, and administrative support functions. ASCUE has a strong tradition of bringing its members together to pool their…

Budget pressures compel everyone in higher education to demonstrate value in IT investments, using both quantitative and qualitative information. Like many institutions, however, both Stanford and Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have found themselves forced to rely more on anecdotes than on management information to guide decisions. In…