MICHIGAN COMPUTER THEFT AT EASTERN MICHIGAN UNIVERSITY A PROBLEM EMUtalk.org » Computer Theft is Getting Out of Control at EMU

Computer Theft is Getting Out of Control at EMU

I’ve got news for you that probably isn’t news: Pray-Harrold (and probably most of EMU) is flat-out not safe, especially when it comes to securing computers and other high-tech items.

Case in point:

• I experienced this first hand when, as I wrote about back in August 2006 on my official blog, a compter was stolen out of my office. Just to give a few of the details about this theft: My office was locked; the computer in question was a Mac Mini, it was cable-locked down to my desk, and the thief cut the cable; and, because this computer was a server, we know that it disappeared from the network at about 10 am on Monday, August 21.
• In December, two laptops disappeared from seventh floor locked offices, from faculty in (I think) African-American studies.
• Computer Science had two or three laptops stolen from locked classroom closets on the third floor of PH, relatively recently but I don’t know when.
• And then, last night, a colleague of mine in the English department had his laptop stolen out of his (again, locked) office while he was teaching his night class.

I’m sure I’m missing a few thefts, both in Pray-Harrold and around campus. Anyone have any others to report?

This is getting ridiculous.

Now, I realize that there’s not much that can be done to make Pray-Harrold or other large buildings on campus completely safe. After all, something like 9,000 people come in and out of that building every day, the extent to which the building is accessible on the weekends varies, and there are lots of dark and narrow hallways. I’m not expecting campus security to prevent all thefts.

But there’s a chilling pattern to the thefts I mention above:

• All of these computers were stolen out of locked offices or closets, with no sign of forced entry.
• All of these thefts were targeted– that is, I think it’s fair to say that the thief and/or his/her accomplice knew where these computers were. In the case of the theft from my office, for example: you don’t just wander into someone’s office with a cable cutters if you don’t know there’s something you want.
• All of these thefts– well, many of them, I should say– seem incredibly brazen to me. Like I said, I know the computer that was stolen out of my office not in the middle of the night or on a weekend or something, but at about 10 am in the morning on a Monday.

Now, I’m no Columbo, but I’ll tell you this: first, it sure smells like some sort of inside job to me. There is a often-repeated rumor that a set of keys for the university went missing a few years ago, which means (if true) that someone out there has a passkey to everything. There’s some evidence that this might actually be what’s going on here. Equipment that is behind security systems in Pray-Harrold or that is behind doors that have been rekeyed for some reason appear to be safe so far.

Second, I don’t think the EMU Campus Cops are doing ANYTHING about this, and I mean absolutely NOTHING. I never had the opportunity to file a report (though I understand that the secretaries in the department did file one), and no one has ever followed up on these thefts.

Frankly, I’m at a loss, because I think this is starting to fall into the area of a “work safety” and possibly an area for a formal grievance. See, here’s the deal: the hardware and software are valuable enough, but the real value of these computers is what’s on them: the writings, the web sites, the content, the data, etc. When the server was stolen, a couple of months worth of work in setting it up disappeared with it. I am sure that the impact of other thefts for my colleagues has been even more dramatic.

So again, I think we’re talking here about a basic work safety issue: if I can’t be reasonably certain that the work I do as part of my employment at EMU– work that is part of the teaching, service, and scholarship I need to perform to continue in good standing with the institution– if I can’t be at least a little confident that it will be safe behind my locked door in my office, well, isn’t that a major problem?

I’ve vented enough and I’ll be curious what others have to say. Obviously, there are two simple solutions that I am sure the administration sees as cost prohibitive: they could rekey all the doors in these buildings– or at least the faculty office doors– and they could actually have some security. But like I said, sometimes the obvious things are the most unlikely.