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TOP STORIES FOR WEDNESDAY, MAY 18, 2005 Students Show Ease of Identity Theft IBM and OneCleveland Collaborate on Grid Computing GAO Warns of Insecure Wi-Fi STUDENTS SHOW EASE OF IDENTITY THEFT Graduate students at Johns Hopkins University set out to see how much personal information they could collect on as many individuals as possible, using only the Internet and $50. The 41 students were in a course taught by Aviel D. Rubin, professor of computer science and technical director of the university's Information Security Institute, who divided them into groups of three or four and instructed them to use only legal, public sources of information. The exercise mimicked the activities of data brokers, such as ChoicePoint and LexisNexis, and the students were able to collect and aggregate vast amounts of information, even with limited time and budgets. Although Rubin was pleased that fewer Social Security numbers were among the data collected than he had anticipated, privacy advocates insisted that such information remains easy to obtain, posing enormous risk of identity theft. Even without Social Security numbers, the data collected represented for some individuals a very broad picture of who they are, where they live, and activities in which they participate. Such access to personal information worries many, including Sen. Ted Stevens (R-Alaska), who conducted a similar experiment, instructing his staff to try to steal his identity. Aside from information they discovered about Stevens, they were told they could buy his Social Security number for $65. New York Times, 18 May 2005 (registration req'd) http://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/18/technology/18data.html IBM AND ONECLEVELAND COLLABORATE ON GRID COMPUTING IBM this week unveiled its Economic Development Grid, an effort to bring grid computing out of research labs and into government, education, health care, and other areas. OneCleveland, a nonprofit organization working to bring high-speed Internet to the city of Cleveland, is the first to use the Economic Development Grid. OneCleveland has been working on the project with IBM for two years, according to Scot Rourke, president of the organization. The implementation includes several separate projects: the Higher Education Collaborative Grid, designed to give new access to higher education and increase enrollments at Ohio universities; the K-12 Outreach Grid, which gives K-12 teachers access to resources at other schools and universities; and the Healthcare Collaborative Grid, a system of sharing information among hospitals to improve health care. Organizers hope that the technology will attract business and other economic interests to the region. Internet News, 18 May 2005 http://www.internetnews.com/ent-news/article.php/3505951 GAO WARNS OF INSECURE WI-FI A report released this week by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) strongly criticizes the Wi-Fi security of federal agencies. Wireless networks with no security or with poorly configured security pose significant risks of unauthorized access. Hackers within range of the network could access the network and potentially other computers on the network. Despite guidelines issued by the National Institute for Standards and Technology stating that government agencies should forgo wireless networks unless their security can be ensured, 13 of 24 major agencies do not require security for wireless networks, and 9 agencies do not have wireless-security plans. Investigators from the GAO monitored six agencies and detected Wi-Fi signals outside all of them. The GAO report recommends that the Office of Management and Budget require all federal agencies to use a variety of security measures, including encryption and virtual private networks. Reuters, 17 May 2005 http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?storyID=8521359 ***************************************************** 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
