IDAHO (UPDATE WITH ADDITIONAL INFO) ON COMPUTER THEFT AT UNIVERSITY OF IDAHO UI beefs up security efforts:

UI beefs up security efforts
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

MOSCOW, Idaho -- The University of Idaho has announced new computer security policies in the wake of more computer thefts, but they will take up to a year to implement, an official at the school said.

Tony Opheim, senior director of enterprise services with the UI's Information Technology Services, outlined the school's plan to protect sensitive information earlier this week.

"Even moving as fast as we possibly can, with the resources we have, we're talking a good year (to get fully implemented)," Opheim told the Moscow-Pullman Daily News.

Seven laptops valued at $6,300 were stolen over the weekend, but school officials said they contained no sensitive information.

However, in November three desktop computers were stolen that contained the personal information of more than 330,000 employees, students, alumni and donors.

Opheim said the thefts added extra incentive to create new security policies.

"It certainly sped (implementation) up a little bit," Opheim said. "Being a university, it was hard trying to get everybody's attention."

Opheim said the college wants to reduce the chance of releasing personal information, and make sure no sensitive information is available to be stolen.

That means keeping information in secure locations, such as files that are on a protected network server. He also said another place considered secure would be on an encrypted file, so even if the computer is stolen it could not be accessed.

"A major part of all of this is simply awareness," said Chuck Lanham, the director of enterprise computing support with UI's Information Technology Services. He said that means "being aware of the types of information you're dealing with and asking if it is being put in places that could be made available easily or not so easily."

As part of the security measures, Information Technologies Services workers will review computer systems in each department and add security measures where needed.

"We're taking action in a short time frame to make sure the most sensitive exposures are dealt with most immediately," Lanham said.