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NEWS / WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 3, 2010 / THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN / KANSAN.COM
TECHNOLOGY
Workshop tells students how to detect cyber scams
Howard Ting/KANSAN
Julie Fugett, information security analyst at the University, gives a presentation on personal computer protection against phishing scams from e-mails and search engines. Fugett encourages all those who are interested to log on to www.facebook.com/BeSeKUre.
sfoster@kansan.com
BY SAMANTHA FOSTER
When Matthew Zhang came to the United States, he didn't expect his first experience with the legal system to come so soon.
Zhang, a sophomore from Beijing, said he tried to buy a 2003 Honda Accord on eBay after he came to the U.S. in January. He paid $2,900 for the car, but a week later he realized that the car was not being sent. After talking to his friends, he decided to call the police.
"The officer told me, 'Your money is already somewhere else,'" Zhang said.
The site Zhang used wasn't really eBay — it was a replication of the website and was part of a phishing scam. Zhang is one of millions of people who have fallen for a phishing scam. According to the most recent Gartner survey, 3.2 million individuals were victims of phishing scams in the U.S. because they didn't know the warning signs. For this reason, KU Information Technology held a cybersecurity workshop Tuesday to help students avoid security threats,
including phishing scams such as Zhang's, on the Internet.
Julie Fugett, systems analyst for KU IT, said phishing scams tried to scare people into revealing personal information. Phishers pretend to be legitimate people or businesses, such as eBay, through phone, e-mail or text communications to obtain information such as bank account numbers, passwords or social security numbers — information that the legitimate businesses would already have and would not ask for.
"They hope the action you will take is to just send them the information," Fugett said.
Zhang said he had tracked the car on eBay and contacted the man who said he was the seller. The seller told him he couldn't use eBay anymore because he got a new job in Florida, so he sent Zhang e-mails with links to what was, supposedly, eBay. Zhang said he trusted eBay and wanted to buy the car quickly, so he paid for the car through the emailed links.
Fugett said KU IT holds cybersecurity workshops once or twice a semester depending on the demand.
If you suspect a scam:
Call 864-8080 or send an e-mail to abuse@ku.edu.
Fatima Blanco, a fifth-year graduate student in education from Galicia, Spain, said she attended Tuesday's workshop because she wanted to be safe while using the Internet.
"I want to learn how to be secure on the computer, surf the Internet safely and learn how to identify the websites that are safe for the computer." Blanco said.
Fugett said students should not respond to requests for their personal information through links. She said students should always type Internet addresses directly into the browser to make sure they are only putting their information into valid sites. Students should also report phishing messages they receive in their KU e-mail accounts to the KU IT Security Office.
CAMPUS
Edited by Megan Heacock
Students challenge policies in use of StudyBlue.com
BY KIRSTEN KWON kkwon@kansan.com
Denise Giannino spends up to eight hours creating a single lecture for her classes. In fall 2009, when she discovered a student had taken parts of her PowerPoint lectures and illegally uploaded them to StudyBlue.com, Giannino, an instructor of art history, felt her work had been stolen.
The site, started by two University of Wisconsin students in 2007, offers study aides submitted by students to university and high school campuses across the country.
"It was really upsetting because students participating in this site, either by uploading course materials or downloading, they are
participating in something that is unethical", Giannino said. "At the very least it violates the integrity of my class."
On its website, StudyBlue.com states that the company believes students have the right to work together
By uploading images from Giannino's PowerPoint presentations to StudyBlue without her permission, the student violated University policv.
"At the very least it violates the integrity of my class."
DENISE GIANNINO Instructor, Art History
The University's plagiarism policy states, "Plagiarism applies to material taken from a book, article, or the Internet, or to material taken from another person without properly citing your sources." This includes uploading the work of an instructor without permission.
and share lecture notes, but that "professors have the right to protect their original works"
after approaching the student in question and
asking her to remove the uploaded material, Giannino, along with other instructors, contacted KU general counsel Rose Marino for legal advice.
Marino provided the instructors with a few ways to protect their work. For example, making audio
recordings of lectures is an easy way to copyright work, Marino said.
"If they've recorded it from a form of speaking, the copyright is created in that moment." Marino said. "Then if anyone takes their work, then that's an infringement."
Haley Becker, an Overland Park senior, said she found the website only somewhat helpful. She used StudyBlue.com last semester to study flash cards for a communications course.
"I think I did well simply because I studied," Becker said. "If more students consistently used StudyBlue, it seems like it would be a source of just getting by, not actually learning."
Becker said she thought teachers had a right to their own work but that students did not use aca
"I can understand why students would want to post lecture notes and PowerPoints to benefit their peers' study habits, but at the same time I don't think it's the students' place to post their professors' work online." Becker said.
demic sites like StudyBlue.com in purposefully harmful ways.
Now Giannino is cautious when lecturing with PowerPoint and images and said that if a similar situation happened again, there would be consequences.
"For my current students, since I've verbally stated and written that it's not allowed, I will undertake disciplinary action," Giannino said.
- Edited by Sarah Bluvas
ODD NEWS
Thieves steal $300 worth of snacks
KINGSPORT, Tenn. — It was a Zinger of a theft in Tennessee.
The deputies found about $300 worth of stolen snack cakes stacked on the ground nearby.
It also included cupcakes, Twinkies and other snack cakes from the Merita Bread Company.
The Kingsport Times-News cites a report from the Sullivan County Sheriff's Office in reporting 34-year-old James M. Denoon and 18-year-old Anthony Stout were found hiding under a truck at the bakery late Friday night.
Associated Press
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