Log In
Think your college identity is as safe as it can be? This next story may make you think again.
Daniel Fowler and Justin Camp, former students of the University of Central Missouri were charged with conspiracy, fraud, computer intrusion, identity theft and electronic communications interception in November for hacking into the university’s network with intentions to sell personal information about faculty and students.
Fowler admitted to hacking into the network in 2009 using a flash drive containing a virus to infiltrate other’s computers and gain access to their personal information. Instead of distributing mass emails with viruses, Fowler and Camp took a personal and “human factor” approach by offering to show pictures from the infected flash drive. Once the virus was released, the hackers had access to the now infected computer and used their access to the administrator’s computer to try to transfer money into their own student accounts. Crime doesn’t pay, though: They could now be facing up to 15 years in prison.
With the advancement and innovation of technology it’s often easy to forget about our own transparency in the technological web. Although what Fowler and Camp did was dangerous and irresponsible, it’s not uncommon on a smaller scale. An internal college profile has vital information and needs to heavily protected. At Boston University, we are required to change our master password several times throughout four years and the password is required to be a certain length and contain certain characters to validate its strength against hackers.
Protecting yourself online goes without saying but protecting your personal college information is a must. Although it’s unlikely you will be a victim of a hacker, be sure never to reveal your password or open emails from unknown senders.
Anna Meskishvili is a rising senior at Boston University pursuing a degree in public relations at the College of Communication and hopes to someday work in healthcare administration communication. She is part of Kappa Delta at BU and has loved every second of it. She is also involved in Public Relations Student Society of America and Ed on Campus. Anna was born in the Republic of Georgia and considers herself a citizen of the world because she’s lived in Russia, England, France, Brooklyn and Connecticut. She