THE TUFTS DAILY Est
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Where You Read It First Mostly Sunny 65/51 THE TUFTS DAILY Est. 1980 VOLUME LVIII, NUMBER 18 TUESDAY, OCTOBER 6, 2009 TUFTSDAILY.COM IT security breach causes WebCenter shutdown BY BEN GITTLESON were among several sectors that the security breach, and those Daily Editorial Board escaped harm. offices subsequently employed a Information technology variety of anti-virus and security An unusually large-scale employees began noticing measures on hacked machines, hacking attack over the weekend jumps in traffic from a num- according to Irish. Officials affected at least 100 computers ber of compromised machines reinstalled computer operating on Tufts’ Medford/Somerville around midnight on Saturday systems, made passwords more campus, causing the univer- morning. The appearance of complicated and tweaked net- sity to temporarily shut down spikes in activity — which can work settings. WebCenter and send many result in slow performance but UIT this weekend traced employees home early. which are not always notice- the attack to servers located in The security breach likely able by users — spread to scores Amsterdam. After those servers COURTESY LAURA SKLAVER Army Capt. Benjamin Sklaver, a graduate of both the School of Arts and Sciences resulted from people outside of of other computers throughout were blocked, the attack shifted and the Fletcher School, was killed in an ambush in Afghanistan last Friday. the university trying to hijack the day on Saturday and into to Brazil and — after the Brazilian Tufts-affiliated computers in Sunday, Irish said. base was denied access — to order to send out spam e-mails Over the weekend, UIT noti- Estonia. This offshore hacking or to use network storage space fied relevant information tech- Alum, Army Capt. Sklaver for other purposes, according nology teams across campus of see ATTACK, page 2 to Dawn Irish, director of com- munications and organization- killed in Afghanistan al effectiveness for University Information Technology (UIT). BY MATT REPKA program, and went on to serve Irish said that information tech- Daily Editorial Board with the U.S. Army in northern nology officials will not know Uganda. for sure what caused the attack U.S. Army Capt. Benjamin Sklaver’s service with the until they complete an analysis Sklaver (LA ’99, F ’03) was killed Combined Joint Task Force - Horn this week. Friday during an ambush in of Africa in northern Uganda Impacted computers includ- Muscheh, Afghanistan, near the opened his eyes to the problems ed those in faculty and staff Pakistani border. He was 32. plaguing the region, a site of offices in the Schools of Arts Sklaver, a captain in the 422nd continuous civil unrest and con- and Sciences and Engineering, Civil Affairs Battalion, 3rd Infantry flict since the 1980s. He returned as well as machines in Tisch Division, was serving in his sec- home determined to bring clean Library and in Undergraduate ond tour of duty. drinking water to villagers who Education, Student Affairs and The ambush is believed to have did not have access to it because Student Services (USS), Irish been perpetrated by a suicide of the violence there. said. bomber. While working for the Centers She added that to the best of Sklaver graduated from the For Disease Control on emergency her knowledge only three of the School of Arts and Sciences in health and refugee relief, Sklaver approximately 100 computers 1999 with an international rela- founded the ClearWater Initiative affected belonged to students. tions degree. He focused on secu- in 2007. This international non- The breach did not affect all rity studies and humanitarian profit organization works to sup- sectors of the university, or even assistance at the Fletcher School ply clean drinking water to rural of the Medford/Somerville cam- of Law and Diplomacy. While at Ugandans. pus. The university advance- AALOK KANANI/TUFTS DAILY Tufts, he enrolled in the Reserve ment office and the Fletcher A computer in Dowling Hall reads “No Input Signal.” Many employees Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC) see SKLAVER page 2 School of Law and Diplomacy left early yesterday after a weekend security breach affected computers. Law forces change Admissions officers connect with Boston-area to student IDs students through college outreach programs BY EMMA GOLDSTEIN BY MARTHA SHANAHAN Contributing Writer Contributing Writer Tufts students will have new identification Tufts’ Office of Undergraduate Admissions cards in hand next semester as the university has taken the lead in a number of urban is forced to comply with state legislation that public school initiatives in an attempt to steer aims to curb identity theft. Boston-area middle school and high school Massachusetts state law chapter 93H, students onto a college path. which became effective in 2007, established The initiatives organized by the admissions stricter regulations on financial account num- office are designed to connect Tufts with area bers in response to several reported cases schools that do not have adequate resources of identity theft in the commonwealth. The to prepare their students for the college admis- law puts JumboCash numbers in the same sions process and the university experience, category as credit card numbers, forcing the according to Associate Director of Admissions university to issue updated JumboCash num- Walker Coppedge. bers and IDs in line with the new regulations The admissions office’s efforts are not by Jan. 1 of 2010. designed to bypass or replace existing guid- The JumboCash number on ID cards that ance programs at Boston-area schools. Rather, sophomores, juniors and seniors currently they are intended to help guidance counselors carry is the same as their student ID number, who often face overwhelming workloads that which the state says puts students at risk of keep them from making the college appli- identity theft. cation process fully accessible to their stu- “The law really centers around protecting dents, according to Dean of Undergraduate people’s financial information and protect- Admissions Lee Coffin. ing identities,” said Geoff Bartlett, technical Guidance offices generally serve as the services manager in the Department of point of contact for admissions officers, but, Public Safety. JODI BOSIN/TUFTS DAILY according to Coffin, in the past Tufts offi- The admissions office is reaching out to schools in the local community as part of initia- see IDENTIFICATION, page 2 tives to expose students to their college options. see OUTREACH, page 2 Inside this issue Today’s Sections gy g. However, the flyer was taken ou In-Goo Kwak, of flyer d made its way around campus. S Women’s tennis dom- News 1 Op-Ed 11 controversy notori- ed. I first apologized to the creato inated the courts last hat I mocked, and then anonymo Features 3 Comics 12 ety, defends freedom e Asian American Alliance’s Septem weekend, sweeping of speech in an opin- Chat; I was interested to hear the v both MIT and Babson Arts & Living 7Sports Back t disagreed with what I had done. ion piece. te the polarizing effect my flyer w 9-0. Editorial | Letters 10 mpus. While it is true the poster w see OP-ED, page 11 f my views, I did not post the flyer see SPORTS, back page ptuous intent to send a message to 2 THE TUFTS DAILY NEWS Tuesday, October 6, 2009 Security breach Humanitarian Sklaver killed in violent ambush SKLAVER Sklaver has been laid to rest. Funeral mittee that recruited alumni to come to impacts at least continued from page 1 arrangements are set for today. campus to speak with current students ClearWater is an all-volunteer organi- Sklaver was engaged to be married to about their majors and career aspirations. zation. Drawing on the efforts of Sklaver Beth Segaloff. Shortly before he was called Director of Public Relations Kim Thurler 100 computers and other leaders, the nonprofit spent back into active duty in Afghanistan, expressed her sadness on behalf of the a full 78 percent of its total 2008 bud- Sklaver had taken a job with the Federal university. “Our hearts go out to Benjamin ATTACK get on water projects, according to the Emergency Management Agency in New Sklaver’s family and friends on the loss of continued from page 1 ClearWater Web site. York so that he could be closer to Segaloff. this caring and courageous young man,” method is common in these cases, accord- Thomas Williams, Tufts’ senior asso- During his time at Tufts, Sklaver had Thurler told the Daily. ing to Irish, who added that it can prove ciate director of alumni relations, who been an active member of the Jewish com- For Tomo Takaki, a junior and a member difficult to absolutely stop an attack when knew Sklaver personally when Williams munity. Tufts Hillel Executive Director of the ROTC, the news is a stark reminder offenders switch servers so easily. first began working at Tufts, called him “an Rabbi Jeffrey Summit, who is a member of the realities of the ongoing military “We shut down their access to the uni- outstanding person.” of Sklaver’s extended family and grew up operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. “We’re versity, but it doesn’t do much to alleviate “He was very energetic,” Williams said, with his parents, said he was heartbroken all aware of the risk, but you don’t really the problems,” she said. “a very civic and public-minded citizen.” by the loss. think about it every day,” Takaki said. After computers were pulled offline on Sklaver was a native of Hamden, Conn. “Ben was an extraordinary man,” “When it’s right in your community Saturday, UIT saw the attack wane on On Monday, Connecticut Gov. M. Jodi Rell Summit told the Daily in an e-mail state- — someone who lived in the same build- Saturday night.