Education database worries security experts

Posted by in Uncategorized May 4th, 2005

More on this story which I noted before. This from the Chronicle of Higher Ed, which you need a subscription for the full story.

Amid a rash of corporate and institutional data breaches recently, security experts are questioning whether a "unit record" database proposed by the Department of Education could be kept secure. Currently the department collects aggregate data on college students and graduation rates. A unit record database would track individual students through their college careers, presenting what some see as an extremely tempting target for hackers. The current system would force a hacker to "compromise several databases," according to Eugene Spafford, professor of computer sciences and electrical and computer engineering at Purdue University, whereas with a database like the one proposed, "it's possible to attack it from any point in the system." barbara Simons, former president of the Association for Computing Machinery,
was also concerned about a unit record database, suggesting that it might not be the safest way to accomplish the department's goals. Grover Whitehurst, director of the Institute of Education Sciences at the Education Department, said the agency is investigating security options for the proposed database and welcomes suggestions. He noted that the system might not use Social Security numbers as identifiers and said that if the information in the system were limited in scope, it would not be very appealing to hackers.

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