Although a recent survey conducted by the Campus Computing Project at various universities suggested security is a top concern for campus technology leaders, ITC officials said they don't prioritize between information technology concerns.
The Campus Computing Project, an organization devoted to studying the role of information technology in higher education, reported that the top information technology issue among universities was network and data security, far ahead of the runner-up, instructional integration. The annual survey showed the gap between these concerns has grown wider over the past several years.
According to ITC Security and Policy Specialist Brian Davis, ITC does not prioritize among issues like computer security and instructional management, unlike the institutions mentioned in the survey.
Marty Peterman, Information Technology and Communication security specialist, said although ITC has a security office, security is not prioritized.
"It's not at the bottom or top of the agenda," Peterman said.
Peterman said ITC student employees are only trained to assist students with computer virus infections and helping them keep their anti-Spyware and operating system files updated.
The most common security threats at the University, he said, are phishing attacks -- e-mails sent from false addresses -- followed by spam and viruses. In order to help maintain a secure network, ITC blocks the infected computer from the network until the machine has been cleaned thoroughly.
The University takes additional measures to ensure a computer network.
"There is spam filtering, grey listing, virus blocking, attachment blocking, encrypted wireless networks, complex passwords mandated and security awareness training," he said.
Because October is national software security awareness month, ITC student employees are distributing literature on security awareness every Monday.
While the survey indicated that more universities are adopting new file-sharing policies, Davis said guidelines at the University have already been in place.
According to Davis, under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, the University must take action to cease sharing the copyrighted material if a complaint is filed.
"For the first time a student gets involved with [illegal] file-sharing, they get a warning, but there are consequences if they do not respond to the complaint or if they continue to share," Davis said.
He added that the additional consequences were imposing fines or completely restricting internet access to the charged students.
Peterman said ITC tries to impose as few restrictions as possible in order to promote the academic mission of the University.
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