U.S. Universities Fight Off Hackers

By Riva Gold. U.S. universities are relying on faculty and students to help strengthen data security following a spike in cyberattacks over the last few years. While institutions continue to monitor their networks and engage in joint efforts with law enforcement, educating the university community plays a vital role in protecting their systems. At Stanford University, students were recently asked to remain vigilant across all devices after a July attack on the school’s information systems infrastructure.  The attack appeared to have been launched from overseas. While the purpose of the hacking wasn’t clear, experts suggest that intellectual property of commercial value is a common target in such attacks, Randy Livingston, Stanford’s vice president for business affairs, wrote in a letter to students. Mr. Livingston has sent out an email to all students asking them to use complex passwords and change them regularly, and soon the university will require a two-step authentication system for access to certain applications. More...