UNI Computer system hacked

/

I got my notification on Saturday that my personal info may have been exposed in this breach of security, though from what I've heard, it wasn't a "virus" per se, but rather a bot that was on the laptop in question:

UNI warns of ID theft after computer security breach

CEDAR FALLS, Iowa (AP) -- The University of Northern Iowa has warned students and faculty to monitor their bank accounts after someone accessed a computer system holding confidential information.

The university detected last week that a laptop computer holding W-2 forms was illegally accessed, though officials said the person likely did not realize he could obtain tax information for about 6,000 student employees and faculty.

"A virus was detected during routine monitoring," said Tom Schellhardt, vice president for administration and finance. "We immediately took steps to fix the problem and increase security."

The university sent letters to everyone whose data was on that computer, warning them to protect against identity theft by monitoring their accounts and contacting credit reporting agencies.

Steve Moon, the school's director of network services, said the person who used the laptop computer did so to review the print jobs for the W2 forms.

"There had been problems with printing, and the person wanted to review what the print stream was trying to do," he said.

A. Frank Thompson, a UNI professor of finance, said he didn't think W2 forms should be on the computer because the information must be made into a hard copy anyway for tax purposes. Also, "it simply opens up the possibility of that information being inappropriately accessed," he said.

Catching up

/

I may actually have some time to do a bit of blogging now, I'm getting pretty caught up in my work, for the first time in over a month. I've been hip-deep in wireless gear, trying to decide which system we'll start migrating towards here at work, before a renovated building comes online this spring. I need to write a little bit about my Xbox 360 (yes, I have one) and my Intel-based iMac (yep, one of those too) as they're both exciting new pieces of technology. But I'll get to that after I clean my office...

DBA Wanted

/

They're hiring an assistant DBA here at work:

NECESSARY QUALIFICATIONS: Bachelor's degree in computer science or related field plus at least two years of application development experience using a relational database required, preferably in a UNIX environment. Skills with business application development, including designing/administering a relational database preferably with ORACLE on Solaris preferred. Understanding of data security, integrity and consistency; familiarity with backup, recovery, database utilities, tuning and performance monitoring; knowledge of database market and technology trends; design of relational data structures; and excellent communication and customer relations skills preferred.

R.I.P. John Spencer

/

I was shocked to see this morning that John Spencer, of the West Wing (and LA Law) has died. He's probably the best actor in the entire cast of the West Wing, in my opinion. It's sort of bizarre that he died of a heart attack, as his character on the show had one a couple seasons ago. I wonder how they'll handle this on the show, though honestly, I'd rather see Alan Alda win the "election" going on right now than Jimmy Smits...