***************************************************** Edupage is a service of EDUCAUSE, a nonprofit association whose mission is to advance higher education by promoting the intelligent use of information technology. *****************************************************
TOP STORIES FOR WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 13, 2006 Hackers Access UCLA Records for 800,000 Costs Spike for Software at U. of Minnesota South African Supercomputer Goes Online Apple Disputes Reported Drop in iTunes Sales HACKERS ACCESS UCLA RECORDS FOR 800,000 UCLA has sent letters notifying 800,000 faculty, staff, students, and applicants that a database containing their personal information was accessed by a hacker for more than a year. Officials at the university said the database was breached in October 2005 but that the problem was not discovered until late November of this year when university staff observed that a hacker was searching the database for names and Social Security numbers. Jim Davis, CIO at UCLA, said that perhaps 5 percent of the records were accessed and that so far there have been no reports of the information being misused. He also noted that the compromised database was a central component of the university's computer systems and was protected by stringent security. The attackers used highly sophisticated methods, Davis said, both to access the system and to cover their tracks to prevent detection. San Jose Mercury News, 12 December 2006 http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/16220549.htm COSTS SPIKE FOR SOFTWARE AT U. OF MINNESOTA Officials from the University of Minnesota recently informed regents that costs to upgrade the institution's financial software have risen from an earlier estimate of $28.6 million to $45.7 million, an increase due in large part to additional functionality that the university requested. Grants and contracts, which make up one-quarter of the university's operating budget, will be included in the new system. In the late 1990s, an implementation of human resources and student records systems at the university ran over budget due to bugs in the system and delays in getting it running. Michael Volna, university controller, said that compared to the current, obsolete system, the new financial system will provide considerable benefits because the various computer systems across the campus will be able to communicate in a way that they cannot today and because the new system will be supported by a single vendor. Minneapolis Star Tribune, 7 December 2006 http://www.startribune.com/1592/story/861863.html SOUTH AFRICAN SUPERCOMPUTER GOES ONLINE Researchers in South Africa now have access to a new supercomputer at the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) offices in Pretoria. Though the computer's peak output of one teraflop pales in comparison to systems in other parts of the world, it nonetheless provides a new level of computational power to scientists studying several medical conditions that are epidemic in South Africa, including AIDS, malaria, and tuberculosis. The system, which was donated to the CSIR by Intel, is free of charge for researchers, who will use it to process vast amounts of data related to the structure of diseases, how they are transmitted, and the effectiveness of vaccines. Winston Hide, director of the South African National Bioinformatics Institute at the University of the Western Cape, explained the benefits of the new system by saying, "It's like using the brightest possible search light in a cave as opposed to a torch." CNET, 12 December 2006 http://news.com.com/2100-11390_3-6143082.html APPLE DISPUTES REPORTED DROP IN ITUNES SALES Apple Computer has dismissed a report from Forrester Research that said sales of iTunes music fell 65 percent in the first half of 2006. Forrester arrived at that estimate by analyzing the buying habits of its consumer panel of nearly 2,800 people. Although data from other market research firms also suggests that sales of online music are flat or falling, Apple said Forrester's estimate of iTunes sales was "simply incorrect." Although Apple would not give specific numbers, it did say that the iTunes Music Store saw a profit in the third quarter of 2006. Meanwhile, sales of Apple's portable music players, the iPods, remains brisk. Apple said that in the third quarter, it sold 8.5 million of the devices, up 35 percent from the year before. BBC, 13 December 2006 http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/6175321.stm ***************************************************** 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) 2006, EDUCAUSE
