More on the George Mason University hacking incident

The Washington Post has an excellent article on the recent hacking incident at George Mason University and what's unique about the university context. It goes a long way in answering my question, "What is up with universities?" (See: PIPEDA and Canadian Privacy Law: What is up with universities?.)

George Mason Officials Investigate Hacking Incident (washingtonpost.com)

On Tuesday, the university handed over the hacked computer -- a Windows 2000 server -- to the Fairfax County Police Department. The police and the FBI were running forensic tests, looking for electronic clues to the hacker's identity. GMU is only the latest campus to be hit by a hacker. In the past two years, similar attacks occurred at the University of Georgia, the University of Texas at Austin, the University of Missouri at Kansas City, the University of California at San Diego, and the University of California at Berkeley.

University campuses present a particularly inviting security target, experts say, because their systems house large amounts of personal data. But protecting the information is more complex than for a typical business because universities are built to foster collaboration and free exchange of information.

"This meant few policies, few restrictions" on how computer networks were to be accessed and used, said Rodney J. Petersen, security task force coordinator for Educause, which works on information technology issues for about 2,000 higher-education institutions. "But our greatest strength is now a weakness."