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Speaking of bad days for privacy...
Posted by Raul Ruiz on Friday, January 24 @ 13:14:02 EST
Contributed by adam_mansfield
Privacy
adam_mansfield writes "International students enrolled at the University of Kansas got some bad news yesterday. It seems that the installation of a security patch left a hole in a secure server that allowed someone to obtain all of the personal information for over 1,400 students(original story)(follow up). The data was collected for the SEVIS program implemented by the INS. It seems that Colleges and Universities are not altogether fond of how the program has been implemented. I know a bunch of the students that were affected by the mishap. They are less than thrilled with the prospect of increased scrutiny at the border and the need to secure all of their financial information. Especially since they had to pay $50.00 for the program's implementation. This situation raises several issues. Can poorly managed security efforts turn out to benefit terrorists, and can anyone be held accountable; Microsoft, the University, the INS?"
 
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Willful negligence (Score: 0)
by Anonymous on Monday, January 27 @ 03:05:00 EST
The original article briefly mentions which computing platform had the problems, but the second did not. Given Microsoft's long and consistent track record for insecure systems, could choosing a Microsoft alternative to store personal information instead of choosing standard BSD, Netware, or other more secure system be considered willful negligence? Granted it is harder to make informed decisions these days. For example, Microsoft's new EULA prohibits publication of benchmark results. However, it is not yet impossible to gather accurate data and make an informed decision. In light of the number of problems, the technical nature of the problems, delay and hinderance with reporting and repairing the problems, it would seem that Microsofts products would be chosen for ideological reasons and not technical reasons. Thus it could be called willful negligence by some.


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