Virginia Tech officials are concerned that a computer virus responsible for the loss of millions of dollars in other organizations might have compromised the Social Security numbers of around 370 university employees.
The virus, called Zeus, was discovered in mid-February on a computer in the university controller’s office. It operates by gaining access to information stored on a hard drive and entered online, and it can record keystrokes and take screen shots on a computer it has infected, says Randy C. Marchany, Virginia Tech’s university information-technology security officer.
In past attacks mostly on small to midsize businesses, this information was used to make millions of unauthorized wire transfers, according to CNN.com.
Mr. Marchany says network-intrusion software at Virginia Tech detected an attempt by the virus to make contact with a computer in China.
“What we saw was the outbound connection when it tried to phone home,” he says.
Since Georgia Tech’s School of Interactive Computing has a track record of innovation in computing education (including the Institute for Personal Robotics and Media Computation), a search for a new Chair of that School is relevant for this blog. Anybody want the job of being my boss?
Four years after the formation of the School of Computer Science and the School of Interactive Computing, it is time to launch national searches for the people who will lead these Schools to their next level of excellence. I’m writing to announce that such searches will commence immediately, and to thank Ellen Zegura and Aaron Bobick for the superlative work they’ve done in leading the Schools since 2007. Both stayed on as chairs to ensure the College’s smooth transition to its new dean, and I appreciate the dedication they’ve shown since my arrival last summer (truthfully, since Rich DeMillo’s departure in 2008).
Under Ellen’s leadership, the School of Computer Science has significantly strengthened…
From the 2011 Higher Ed Tech Summit in Las Vegas, this Wired Campus podcast explores new Obama administration plans for enhancing educational technology. Karen Cator, director of the Office of Educational Technology at the U.S. Department of Education, talks about a new National Center for Advanced Research and Information in Digital Technologies that will finance research on teaching and learning. She also discusses ways her office can help connect higher education professionals with one another to share best practices for using technology, something that is not happening now.
Mobile devices are one year away from transforming education. For the third straight year.
The 2011 Horizon Report, an annual look at technology trends affecting higher education, points to mobile devices as one of six technologies to watch. Of the other five trends, game-based learning and learning analytics—using data to track student progress—are new additions for 2011.
Game-based learning is poised to see greater use within the next two to three years, the report says, and will follow one of two tracks. Game-playing itself may be used to develop decision-making and problem-solving abilities, as well as leadership skills, or educational content embedded into games can teach students as they play. The report points to multiplayer role-playing…
At campuses where heavy snowfall is routine, college tech leaders have taken steps to ensure that their networks continue to run smoothly even in extreme weather conditions.
Joshua Riedy, chief information officer at the University of North Dakota at Grand Forks, says the blizzards that have closed numerous colleges would barely register on his campus. “We wouldn’t even miss school,” he says.
Postwinter floods are of far greater concern for Mr. Riedy. A severe flood in 1997 forced the university to transport its network servers by semitrailers to secure locations in Bismarck and Fargo, N.D.
The city has since built flood walls that so far have prevented a recurrence of those conditions, but the university has plans, pending legislative approval, to build a secure data center that Mr. Riedy hopes will withstand the worst conditions. The data center is slated to be built at the confluence of two different power grids, with two backup generators in…
A new facility at the University of California at Davis pairs winemaking with Wi-Fi to make the process more precise.
Roger B. Boulton, a professor of enology at the university, says even the best winemakers frequently discard many batches of wine that haven’t developed properly.
The technology in the 152 fermenting vats at the new Robert Mondavi Institute for Wine and Food Science is an attempt to address that.
Fermentation is the process by which grape juice and sometimes skin is combined with yeast and other ingredients to make wine. At the institute, custom-built probes embedded with microchips measure the sugar density and temperature of fermenting wines every 15 minutes.
The readings are wirelessly transferred to a server at the facility and then displayed on a large monitor. Soon, the measurements will be viewable on the Web and via smartphones, he says. Smartphone users will even be able to scan bar codes on the sides of individual vats to follow their progress.