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Opinions 7
F R I DAY, NOV. 12 to S U N DAY, NOV. 14 , 2 010
w w w. k a leo.org
Volu me 105 Issue 4 6
System breach puts 40,000 alumni at risk DANIEL JACKSON Staff Reporter
MO N DAY, N OV. 8 Graffiti writers caused an unknown amount of damage at Kuykendall Hall. S U N DAY, N OV. 7 Three non-student males were trespassed from Gateway Hall for suspicious behavior. SAT U R DAY, N OV. 6 An elderly couple was found wandering near Stan Sheriff Center and when questioned could not remember where they were or how they had arrived there. The couple claimed to live at “1 Kalākaua” but were transported to Queens Hospital instead. PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY NIK SEU/KA LEO O HAWAI‘I
F R I DAY, N OV. 5 A student reported the theft of an Apple MacBook from George Hall. She said had left the laptop unattended on the towel dispenser in the bathroom while she went outside to use the phone, and when she returned, her computer was missing. A female mo-ped rider was transported to UH Health Services after crashing on East-West Road while trying to avoid another vehicle. Graffiti writers caused an unknown amount of damage at University High School.
T H U R S DAY, N OV. 4 Graffiti writers caused an unknown amount of damage at Krauss Hall.
Social Security numbers, grades and other private information of students was publicly accessible over the internet on Nov. 30, 2009. A second security breach involving a hacker also happened on May 30 of this year. JANE CALLAHAN Associate News Editor For the second time this year, the University of Hawai‘i system was compromised, making alumni and students susceptible to identity theft. A professor on the West O‘ahu campus accidentally exposed the private information of 40,101 alumni for almost a year when she uploaded information on an unencrypted server. Gregg Takayama, director of communications at UHM said, “It was an honest mistake” on the part of the professor, and that “nothing is foolproof.” The leaked information included Social Security numbers, birthdates, addresses, and academic data among others. The alumni affected graduated UH Manoa from 1990 to 1998, and 2001. Students
who graduated between the years of 1988 to 1993 from the West O‘ahu campus from 1988 to 1993 or attended the latter in the Fall of 1994 were also put at risk. The professor at fault, who had retired in June, was conducting a longitudinal study of UH alumni. She thought the server was secure when she posted the information online on Nov. 30, 2009. The professor also uploaded the information to her personal computer, in defiance of school policy. Ryan Mielke, executive director of public affairs at the UH West O‘ahu campus explained that the professor received the information from the Institutional Research Office (IRO) at UH over a decade ago. Social Security numbers were involved because that was the “only method of verifiably identifying stu-
dents” 10 years ago. The leak was not discovered by UH, but by Liberty Coalition, a watchdog agency that aims to protect civil liberties and individual privacy. They found the leak by typing “SSN” into Google search. Mielke did not directly state whether or not the professor had the subjects’ permission to access such information, however in a statement made to the Liberty Coalition, one alumna said that “an informed consent was not required for participation” in the professor’s study. “From 20 02 to 20 04 the U H system put in place st udent I D t rack ing numbers that now ser ve to ident i f y st udents” sa id Mielke, “A similar request [for st udent infor mat ion] to day would not y ield the same dat a…f rom a decade ago.”
Mielke said that he has not received any reports of ID theft from alumni as a result of the gaffe. A hotline was set up in order to field questions from alumni, who “have been very concerned about their personal information and whether they were included in the data,” said Mielke. In addition, Mielke clarified that the UH System information security officials and Google engineers are working closely to ensure all files and associated files “were deleted from any further access or viewing.” The breach was reported in several media outlets, including AOLnews. Mielke said that the media coverage was “necessary and important” so that as many of the affected alumni could be notified. This is not the fi rst time such a breach has occurred. The parking office on campus no longer records Social Security numbers due to a breach that took place on May 30 of this year. A hacker infi ltrated the UH Mānoa server with a virus which made public the Social Security numbers and credit card information of some of the 53,000 people who had registered with the parking office since 1998. The information was available for over two weeks before IT realized the leak, which was discovered only because of a routine audit. Those affected were notified almost a month later. According to Takayama, the investigation showed the hacker had accessed a computer site in China. In order to further ensure internet security for the University, Mielke confi rmed that IT officials “are putting in place many improvements to our information security system, including scanning software, additional training for staff and faculty, and systems intended to greatly reduce or eliminate the risk of further exposure.”