I read with great dismay your article about the surge of foreign cyberattacks on computer systems in American universities. Who bears the cost of these attacks? Ostensibly, it is universities, which now have to pay security professionals more to protect their systems. But one unappreciated casualty is big-data scientific research. The many researchers who share large amounts of data over the Web in fields like astronomy and genomics will have their work dramatically impeded by both the hacking and the ensuing security restrictions created in response, since computer security restrictions often inevitably make it more difficult to share access to computer systems over the Web.
MARK GERSTEIN
New Haven, July 22, 2013
Above is a published letter, with the following citation:
M Gerstein (2013), "Cyberattacks on Universities, and How to Thwart Them," NY Times (24 July)
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/24/opinion/cyberattacks-on-universities-and-how-to-thwart-them.html
"A version of this letter appeared in print on July 24, 2013, on page A22 of the New York edition with the headline: Cyberattacks on Universities, and How to Thwart Them."
Published letter in response to:
Universities Face a Rising Barrage of Cyberattacks
By RICHARD PÉREZ-PEÑA
Published: July 16, 2013 (front page)
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/17/education/barrage-of-cyberattacks-challenges-campus-culture.html
Listing of tweets related to this letter
http://storify.com/markgerstein/tweets-related-to-my-cyberattack-letter
