U.S. research universities receive millions of hacking attempts per week

Posted on Wed, Jul 17, 2013 : 1:07 p.m.

U.S. research universities receive millions of hacking attempts per week

By Kellie Woodhouse

The New York Times reports that research universities are receiving an increasing amount of hacking attempts.

AP photo

The New York Times reports that America's research universities get millions of hacking attempts each week, many from China.

Such universities — the University of Michigan among them — are especially prone to cyber attacks because of the varied research they conduct. The Times reports schools sometimes don't know when they've been hacked or what has been stolen, and they're reluctant to report a hacking unless personal data has been stolen.

“The attacks are increasing exponentially, and so is the sophistication, and I think it’s outpaced our ability to respond,” Rodney J. Petersen, leader of the cybersecurity program at Educause, told the Times.

Read the full New York Times report

Kellie Woodhouse covers higher education for AnnArbor.com. Reach her at kelliewoodhouse@annarbor.com or 734-623-4602 and follow her on twitter.

Comments

you can't handle the truth

Wed, Jul 17, 2013 : 6:37 p.m.

Hello?!? Obama?! Anyone home?!? Are you ever going to address this?!?

Jaime Magiera

Thu, Jul 18, 2013 : 5:31 p.m.

YCHTT, that isn't how computer security works. You can't just tell the President "Stop the hacking attempts!". It's not like there is some giant, international firewall the president can flip a switch on. We (people who work in technology for educational institutions) put measures in place to secure our networks and computers. Many of these attacks are distributed - coming from different machines across the world. That makes them particularly hard to protect against. If you are interested in learning more, please read up on "Botnets".

you can't handle the truth

Thu, Jul 18, 2013 : 11:59 a.m.

Thanks for the laugh today, Nicholas.

Stupid Hick

Wed, Jul 17, 2013 : 10:01 p.m.

Hello?! I may be a stupid hick, but even I know that Obama specifically addressed cybersecurity in his most recent State of the Union address, and followed it with an historic executive order: http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2013/02/12/executive-order-improving-critical-infrastructure-cybersecurity

Nicholas Urfe

Wed, Jul 17, 2013 : 8:28 p.m.

The President is part of the branch of the government called the Executive. The Executive branch enforces the laws. Congress is part of the Legislative branch of government. The Legislative branch would need to pass a law to specifically mandate or take action in a situation like this. That would require funding from some source. Where would that money come from? Do you suggest we borrow it from China? The talent necessary to investigate and prosecute these crimes is extremely expensive and scarce. I hope this clarifies the basics of two of our three branches of government.