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TOP STORIES FOR MONDAY, MAY 02, 2005 Proposed Database Worries Security Experts Spurned Again, Qwest Withdraws Bid for MCI Time Warner Reports Data Loss PROPOSED DATABASE WORRIES SECURITY EXPERTS Amid a rash of corporate and institutional data breaches recently, security experts are questioning whether a "unit record" database proposed by the Department of Education could be kept secure. Currently the department collects aggregate data on college students and graduation rates. A unit record database would track individual students through their college careers, presenting what some see as an extremely tempting target for hackers. The current system would force a hacker to "compromise several databases," according to Eugene Spafford, professor of computer sciences and electrical and computer engineering at Purdue University, whereas with a database like the one proposed, "it's possible to attack it from any point in the system." Barbara Simons, former president of the Association for Computing Machinery, was also concerned about a unit record database, suggesting that it might not be the safest way to accomplish the department's goals. Grover Whitehurst, director of the Institute of Education Sciences at the Education Department, said the agency is investigating security options for the proposed database and welcomes suggestions. He noted that the system might not use Social Security numbers as identifiers and said that if the information in the system were limited in scope, it would not be very appealing to hackers. Chronicle of Higher Education, 6 May 2005 (sub. req'd) http://chronicle.com/prm/weekly/v51/i35/35a03701.htm SPURNED AGAIN, QWEST WITHDRAWS BID FOR MCI After the board of MCI once again said it favored a lower bid from Verizon Communications, Qwest Communications withdrew its bid, accusing the MCI board of bowing to pressure from Verizon and failing to serve the interests of shareholders. Qwest's withdrawal brings to an end a three-month battle to acquire MCI, which has repeatedly expressed a preference for Verizon, depite consistently lower bids. Members of the MCI board argued that regardless of the face value of the bids, Verizon represents a better choice "from the standpoint of risk versus reward." A statement from MCI noted that some of its largest customers had indicated a sufficiently stronger preference for Verizon that they would terminate their business if Qwest's bid were accepted. Some shareholders of MCI disagreed with the board, however, including Leon Cooperman of Omega Advisors, which owns about 12 million shares of MCI. Cooperman said the MCI board should have "treated [Qwest] better and not allowed themselves to be emasculated by Verizon." New York Times, 2 May 2005 (registration req'd) http://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/02/business/02cnd-phone.html TIME WARNER REPORTS DATA LOSS A company that handles data storage for Time Warner lost tape backups containing personal information for about 600,000 employees. Iron Mountain Inc., based in Boston, reportedly lost the tapes during transport. Officials from Time Warner said the tapes did not contain customer information. In a statement, Larry Cockell, chief security officer at Time Warner, said that although no evidence exists that the data have been accessed or misused, "we are providing current and former employees with resources to monitor their credit reports while our investigation continues." Time Warner owns America Online, HBO, and Warner Brothers. Reuters, 2 May 2005 http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?storyID=8363208 ***************************************************** EDUPAGE INFORMATION To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your settings, or access the Edupage archive, visit http://www.educause.edu/Edupage/639 Or, you can subscribe or unsubscribe by sending e-mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] To SUBSCRIBE, in the body of the message type: SUBSCRIBE Edupage YourFirstName YourLastName To UNSUBSCRIBE, in the body of the message type: SIGNOFF Edupage If you have subscription problems, send e-mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] ***************************************************** OTHER EDUCAUSE RESOURCES The EDUCAUSE Resource Center is a repository for information concerning use and management of IT in higher education. To access resources including articles, books, conference sessions, contracts, effective practices, plans, policies, position descriptions, and blog content, go to http://www.educause.edu/resources ***************************************************** CONFERENCES For information on all EDUCAUSE learning and networking opportunities, see http://www.educause.edu/31 ***************************************************** COPYRIGHT Edupage copyright (c) 2005, EDUCAUSE
