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TOP STORIES FOR WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 17, 2005 NSF Grant Funds Study of Electronic Voting VeriSign Offers PKI Discount to Higher Education Computer Extras Blamed for Rising Textbook Prices NIST Compiles Cybersecurity Flaws Database Former AOL Employee Sentenced for Data Theft NSF GRANT FUNDS STUDY OF ELECTRONIC VOTING A team of researchers will use a five-year, $7.5 million grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to study electronic voting. The grant will support a research center called ACCURATE, A Center for Correct, Usable, Reliable, Auditable, and Transparent Elections. Based at Johns Hopkins University, the center includes researchers from the University of California, Berkeley; Stanford University; Rice University; the University of Iowa; and California-based research firm SRI International. According to Dan Wallach, associate professor of computer science at Rice, "The basic question is, 'How can we employ computer systems as trustworthy election systems when we know computers are not totally reliable, totally secure, or bug-free?'" The ACCURATE project is expected to produce technical standards for electronic voting and to develop secure voting systems that are easy to use. Washington Times, 17 August 2005 http://washingtontimes.com/upi/20050817-124413-4457r.htm VERISIGN OFFERS PKI DISCOUNT TO HIGHER EDUCATION VeriSign has announced a new program that offers discounts to institutional members of EDUCAUSE on its managed PKI service, which is used for authenticated user provisioning and digital certificates. The Identity Management Services Program (IMSP) is designed to offer higher education institutions discounted rates on a range of identity management services. George Schu, vice president of strategic development at VeriSign, said the culture of academic institutions has led to generally open networks but that such networks pose security risks. VeriSign offered statistics obtained in a 2004 Gartner study indicating that 53 percent of colleges and universities have suffered denial-of-service attacks, and more than 40 percent have had their systems compromised by hackers. Addressing those risks, he said, is a significant undertaking for many colleges and universities because of the cost and complexity of such projects. Internet News, 16 August 2005 http://www.internetnews.com/security/article.php/3527646 COMPUTER EXTRAS BLAMED FOR RISING TEXTBOOK PRICES A new report from the Government Accountability Office (GAO) indicates that prices for college textbooks have risen at twice the rate of inflation for the past 20 years and blames the increase largely on the inclusion of items such as CD-ROMs that are routinely bundled with books. The report estimates that the average full-time student spends $900 a year on textbooks, a figure that the California Student Public Interest Research Group (CALPIRG)--long a critic of publishers--said echoes its own research. Merriah Fairchild, a higher education advocate for the group, said, "The findings of this report support what we've been saying for two years." Bruce Hildebrand, a spokesman for the Association of American Publishers, refuted the report, saying the average amount is closer to $600. Hildebrand accused CALPIRG of pressuring publishers to eschew newer technologies that can be of educational benefit to students. Fairchild said that in CALPIRG's research, 65 percent of faculty "rarely or never used the bundled materials in their courses." Chronicle of Higher Education, 17 August 2005 (sub. req'd) http://chronicle.com/daily/2005/08/2005081701t.htm NIST COMPILES CYBERSECURITY FLAWS DATABASE Scientists at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have created a vast database designed to collect information on virtually all known cybersecurity vulnerabilities, updated daily with new information. The National Vulnerability Database (NVD), which combines information held in all federal databases, currently has about 12,000 listings and includes links to industry resources. According to Peter Mell, senior computer scientist at NIST and creator of NVD, about 10 new vulnerabilities are added each day. Nell, who characterized the NVD as "an encyclopedia of everything," said it can be useful both for the public at large and for computer developers seeking current information about security weaknesses in a wide range of commercial products. Federal Computer Week, 15 August 2005 http://www.fcw.com/article89911-08-15-05 FORMER AOL EMPLOYEE SENTENCED FOR DATA THEFT A judge in New York has sentenced a former employee of America Online to 15 months in prison for stealing 92 million screen names from AOL and selling them to a spammer. Jason Smathers, who pleaded guilty earlier this year and cooperated with prosecutors, expressed remorse for his actions and asked the judge for leniency. Indeed, the judge could have given Smathers 24 months in prison for his crimes, which included conspiracy and interstate trafficking of stolen property. AOL has said it suffered monetary losses of $300,000 as a result of Smathers's actions. The judge in the case has given the company 10 days to prove those losses, after which he said he will impose a fine, hinting that he is leaning toward a fine of $84,000. Reuters, 17 August 2005 http://today.reuters.com/business/newsarticle.aspx?storyID=nN17251689 ***************************************************** 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. 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