New OSU Security Chief Mum On Cyber Attacks

The new chief of information security at Ohio State University says the university doesn’t report many of the thousands of cyber attacks against the school. Helen Patton says public reporting hinges on what type of data was released and who was affected. “It depends on the kind of data that’s being released, and it depends on the kind of impact to students or employees or staff," Patton says. New York Times reporter Richard Perez-Pena recently wrote a piece about increasing cyber attacks on universities. He says they should report all security breaches. “Even if those aren’t significant most of the time, how are you going to know about the ones that are significant unless you know the entire picture?" Perez-Pena reported that most cyber attacks on American universities are thought to come from China. In 2010, OSU said hackers got away with the Social Security numbers, dates of birth, and addresses of more than 700,000 students, staff, alumni, and applicants.