Wednesday April 20, 2011 year: 131 No. 55 the student voice of
The Ohio State University
www.thelantern.com
thelantern The silence is ‘deafening’
arts & life
IT officials were told not to discuss the October breach of OSU’s server ALLY MAROTTI Campus Editor marotti.5@osu.edu
All in the ‘Family’
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OUAB is sponsoring a comedy show featuring three members of the cast of “Modern Family” on May 18.
sports
More than four months after Ohio State revealed the largest data breach in higher education history, ofÿcials responsible for protecting the university’s electronic information remain silent as evidence of internal disputes arise and the investigation continues. On Oct. 22, the university discovered that a server, which fell under the responsibilities of the Ofÿce of the Chief Information Ofÿcer, had been breached and the identities of about 760,000 people had been jeopardized. On Dec. 15, the university notiÿed current and former faculty, students, applicants and others afÿliated with the university that a hacker had accessed the server containing their names, dates of birth, addresses and Social Security numbers. However, Kathleen Starkoff, the university’s Chief Information Ofÿcer and Steve Romig, associate director of Information Technology security in the CIO’s ofÿce, have no email records containing the phrase “data breach” before Dec. 5, according to documents obtained by The Lantern through open records requests.
Obscurity shrouds the issue, as university spokesman Jim Lynch serves as OSU’s voice on this matter. Contacts from the university’s IT department, including Starkoff, Romig and Charles MorrowJones, director of IT security, refused comment and referred The Lantern to Lynch. “If we had everyone in the world saying ‘Well, this happened and this happened, and by the way, we found out that X, Y or Z,’ then we do create a security breach,” President E. Gordon Gee told The Lantern on April 13. “Transparency is an enemy when it comes to those kinds of issues.” Doug Pollack, chief marketing ofÿcer at IDExperts, a data breach solution provider in Portland, Ore., said agencies are rarely silent about data breaches. “Organizations, generally speaking, try to go out of their way to be overly communicative,” Pollack said. “Keeping it quiet isn’t typically a common practice.” Emails show IT ofÿcials were told not to discuss the breach after it had been made public. On Dec. 16, the day after the public was notiÿed, Vincent Juodvalkis, the systems manager for the department of electrical and computer engineering, sent out an email on a list that includes about 1,200 IT professionals at OSU asking for details on the breach.
“As someone who will surely be on the list of affected persons, I have a personal interest in knowing what happened. Not for the least because I don’t actually consider ‘no evidence’ that any of the data was actually taken to be the same thing as ‘no data was actually taken.’ The two are not equivalent,” Juodvalkis said in the email. “I’d be rather ticked that my data was not protected correctly and that the central IT groups were not living up the standards that they expect the rest of us to live up to.” The same day, Catherine Bindewald, communications director in the ofÿce of the CIO, sent an email to several of her co-workers, including Starkoff, telling them not to respond. “A strong word of caution – do not bite – no response from anyone from our organization please,” Bindewald said. But in a following email that day, Morrow-Jones suggested to Bindewald and Romig to reply. “It might be worth a reply, even if the reply only acknowledged the note, and says the matter is under law enforcement investigation (which is true) so we can’t say anything further,” Morrow-Jones said in the email.
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OSU students ‘not invincible’ In memory of ...
THOMAS BRADLEY AND ANUSREE GARG Senior Lantern reporter bradley.321@osu.edu and garg.30@osu.edu
Sabino steps up
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Redshirt junior linebacker Etienne Sabino looks to be a ‘playmaker’ for OSU’s defense next football season.
campus
OSU experts talk nuclear power
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campus
Bike thieves caught near Morrill
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weather high 64 low 38 a.m. showers
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56/43 mostly sunny 58/57 rain 69/57 t-showers 69/56 t-showers www.weather.com
Few things in life prepare you for the harsh reality of death. Ohio State students are not immune to this inevitable misfortune. Last Thursday, Ryan Williams, a fourth-year in engineering, died in a motorcycle accident. Williams was 23. Williams’ death was not the ÿrst to affect the OSU community in the last three months. Anthony Erick, a fourthyear in chemical engineering, died over spring break on March 23. Erick was 21. Christopher Koger, a fourthyear in English, died of meningitis on March 11. Koger was 23. Jake Nickle, a volunteer on the OSU football team’s strength and conditioning staff, collapsed and passed away during a pickup basketball game on Feb. 25. Nickle was 22. Ruth Gerstner, the director of communication for the Ofÿce of Student Life, spoke about the recent string of deaths at OSU. “We do have 56,000 students, so statistically this is not a high number of deaths,” Gerstner said. Gerstner said 18 students have passed away this academic year, and the average number of deaths per year at OSU is about 15-20. Although statistically, death is inevitable, the fact still remains that student deaths are shocking, devastating and unexpected, especially given the students’ age. Coincidentally, three of these students were close to graduation, and in Nickle’s case, a recent college graduate.
Anthony Erick
Jake Nickle
Ryan Williams
Age: 21 Major: 4th-year in chemical engineering Hometown: Wellington, Ohio
Age: 22 Major: Graduate of Capital University, football volunteer Hometown: Marysville, Ohio
Age: 23 Major: 5th-year in engineering Hometown: New Albany, Ohio
He was always the first person to help if anyone needed anything. Everyone will definitely miss him around here.
He was special and an inspiration to all that have played with him, coached and had pleasure of knowing him. He will be remembered.
Ryan was a really charismatic guy and well-liked by everyone, It’s a big loss for me and Ryan was a great friend of mine.
Chris Koger
Age: 23 Major: 4th-year in English Hometown: Bedford Heights, Ohio
“ “ “ “ Charlie Kiley
” ” ” ”
3rd-year in chemical engineering, fraternity brother Source: Reporting
His passion was children; that’s why he wanted to be a teacher just like his mother.
Henry Stanford
Sage Wolfe
Tamiyka Koger
Football coach at Capital University
1st-year graduate student in mechanical engineering
Sister
Arielle Cummings, a ÿrst-year in exploration, expressed her thoughts on student deaths. “It’s sad when college students die, because they have their whole lives ahead of them,” Cummings said. The three most common causes of student death are accident, suicide and illness, said Karen Kyle, the
MOLLY GRAY / Managing editor for design
director of OSU’s student advocacy center. She said last year, 12 students passed away and the previous year, 18 students died. At OSU, one resource closely related to death is the Counseling and Consultation Services department. Jeeseon Park-Saltzman, a clinical therapist at CCS, said the
main purpose of the department is to provide individual and group counseling to students. Park-Saltzman said the role of the department increases when there is a student death. “We work closely with the Student
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High St. shops won’t take a hit on 4/20 CASEY HANSMAN Lantern reporter hansman.4@osu.edu Although many campus-area restaurants on High Street are not preparing for extra business from those suffering from the munchies on April 20, Papa John’s and Buckeye Donuts are expecting more customers. “I think we made around $3,500 on a Thursday last year for 4/20, which was about $1,000 more (than other days),” said Terah Householder, manager of Papa John’s located at 2108 N. High St. Householder said this will be her fourth time working on 4/20 at Papa John’s. She expects there to be a larger lunch rush. April 20 has become an unofÿcial holiday, marking a day of red eyes, delayed responses, and of course, the munchies, as marijuana smokers celebrate the drug and call for its legalization. Jimmy Barouxis, manager of Buckeye Donuts, at 1998 N. High St., said he noticed an increase of customers on 4/20 about six or seven years ago, and the restaurant will most deÿnitely be busy. “Especially towards the afternoon and evening, there are bigger crowds, people order more food, there’s a bigger average (bill), and everyone is smiling,” Barouxis said. He said they do not have a special deal planned for 4/20, but as in recent years, will make one up on the spot for the day. He also expects to sell more gyro and fries combos. Unlike Buckeye Donuts, Papa John’s is keeping its regular specials, such as any large pizza for $11. Both Barouxis and Householder expect more delivery orders, especially if it rains. Barouxis emphasized the demand for deep fried food and other munchies.
A look at business sales On April 20, 2010, Papa John’s pizza at 2108 N. High Street made $3,500. That amount is about $1,000 more than on a typical day, said Terah Householder, manager of the restaurant.
LAUREN HALLOW / Lantern photographer MOLLY GRAY / Managing editor for design
Unlike other resturants, such as Insomnia Cookies, Papa John’s does not offer any 4/20 deals or specials.
One of the restaurants not expecting a large increase of customers on 4/20 is PJ’s, a sandwich joint located just off High Street, at 15 E. Frambes Ave. “It will probably be like any other day. There might be a tiny bit more
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