Ball State’s security
Firewall: Prevents unauthorized access to personal or blocked information.
Intrusion Prevention: The system follows a computer’s path through networks to alert of malicious practices.
Data Loss Prevention System: Scans the university’s servers.
Source: Tobiah Coffman, Ball State director of information security services.
• Breach at IU leaves many students’ private information public.
• Ball State takes many precautions to prevent data loss.
• Director of information services says he is not worried by IU incident.
Despite the recent Indiana University security breach, Ball State students shouldn’t have to worry about their information falling into the wrong hands.
The Associated Press reported that 146,000 IU students’ information was accessible to the public last week. The university said there was no evidence that anyone had seen the student data while it was public.
This security breach occurred just weeks after a similar incident at the University of Maryland.
Tobiah Coffman, Ball State director of information security services, said mistakes can happen, but he is confident with Ball State’s security.
“We definitely take protecting data very seriously,” Coffman said. “We provide a safe environment for protecting data.”
Coffman said there hasn’t been a security breach at Ball State since he has worked at the university.
He said the university doesn’t plan on making any changes to security in light of IU’s breach.
“I just think [the IU security breach] kind of confirms all of the things we are already doing,” Coffman said. “Security is honestly an evolving process all of the time.”
The security department uses both a firewall and Intrusion Prevention to limit what sources can access Ball State’s information and which information people can access.
Ball State also uses data loss prevention, which scans the university servers to ensure no important student information is accessible to the public. This method should prevent situations like Indiana University’s from occurring, Coffman said.
A recent change to prevent security breaches involves using student identification numbers instead of using social security numbers as was formerly done.
While data breaches may be getting more common, Coffman said the large number of breaches reported by the media could be a result of more awareness and not necessarily more breaches.
More laws are being passed that require companies and universities alike, to inform customers of any potential breach.
If Ball State had a data breach, it would be the university’s responsibility to notify students and help limit the impact. Ball State would also offer credit-monitoring services in that instance.
Coffman said students can email the security office with any questions regarding security or identity theft.
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