Student Newspaper Hack – Journalism Under Attack?

July 2, 2019
Good PeopleSoft News

Education Cybersecurity Weekly is a curated weekly news overview for those who are concerned about the Education industry and Education data breach. It provides brief summaries and links to articles and news across a spectrum of EdTech. Learn about the recent student newspaper hack.

We suppose, on that Saturday morning the editorial team of the University of Ottawa’s student newspaper experienced literally breaking news. Recently the UK government has announced plans to invest £20 million into a global research project.

The balance is lost: the Fulcrum student newspaper hack

Ottawa Citizen on June 30, 2019

We suppose, on that Saturday morning the editorial team of the University of Ottawa’s student newspaper experienced literally breaking news.

About 1 a.m. Matt Gergyek, editor-in-chief of award-winning student newspaper Fulcrum, received a message from his college, warning that the Fulcrum website was hacked. All articles were deleted, except the one which contained the only sentence: “uOttawa students news rag the Fulcrum has been cancelled. Bye-bye.” The headline was no less optimistic, calling the paper “anti-union rag”.

Most of the lost materials may be back till the end of the week but the motive of student newspaper hack remains unclear. However, the Fulcrum was involved in the chaos engulfing student government last year, when auditors were called in to investigate allegations of misuse of funds.

Gergyek emphasized that the hack, wiping out almost 3,000 articles from online archives, is an attack on student journalism.

The Fulcrum is really hurting now. We see the Fulcrum as a running history of student life, how students interact with the administration. We’re concerned about what it will mean to have all those memories erased. It’s a huge blow.

Matt Gergyek, editor-in-chief of award-winning student newspaper Fulcrum

2019 EDUCAUSE Information Security Almanac: the main conclusions

EdTech Magazine on June 26, 2019

Traditionally cybersecurity experts are used to covering the statistics that shows negative tendencies (like increasing number of data breaches), or encourages employers to raise the cybersecurity awareness of their workers. This time is no exception. However, we change the rules and bring some positive news.

For instance, more US Higher Ed institutions have conducted cybersecurity risk assessments and have a dedicated specialist (typically a CISO) responsible for information security. What is interesting, despite the enlarged amount of educational organizations, requiring cybersecurity training for faculty and staff (85%), less than half require the same for students. Moreover, only a quarter of organizations have run risk assessment of cloud service or third-party providers.

Therefore, considering the fact that exposure of sensitive information is the most common concern among Higher Ed institutions, security leaders should keep in mind a few essential measures:

  • Start with a security risk assessment
  • Boost mandatory training for students
  • Empower practices for safely sharing and analyzing data

Global EdTech hub: a perspective UK government investment

The Pie News on June 25, 2019

Recently the UK government has announced plans to invest £20 million into a global research project. British universities, research companies and education experts will be brought together to boost the implementation of EdTech in the undeveloped regions across the world.

The EdTech hub, made of the leading universities, will run for eight years. The University of Cambridge as one of the participants of the project, has emphasized that the technology use in the undeveloped regions should consider the cultural context, so one-size-fits-all programs would not be suitable.

Furthermore, Harriett Baldwin, minister for Africa, has noted that despite the positive impact of education technology on how children learn, many developing countries do not possess “the right tools to keep their software in working order”.

In addition to the implementation of new technology in classrooms, we hope that the EdTech hub will also encourage the improvement of cybersecurity policy in the undeveloped countries, as education sector remains extremely vulnerable to cybercrime.

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