[Infowarrior] - Poor security? Just blame Google

[Richard Forno]

(Well, I guess they're not blaming the student for 'hacking' or 'terrorism'
in this case for a change....rf)


Blame game
Schools file injunction; Google denies fault
BY LAUREN WILLIAMSON
Record Staff Writer
Saturday, June 24, 2006

http://www.journalnow.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=Common%2FMGArticle%2FPr
intVersion&c=MGArticle&cid=1149188715340


Catawba County Schools took aim at Google Friday.

The system filed an injunction against the Internet search engine

The temporary injunction, granted by the Honorable Richard D. Boner, calls
for Google to remove any information pertaining to Catawba County Schools
Board of Education from its server and index and alleges conversion and
trespass against the corporation.

In short, schools say Google grabbed information they shouldn¹t have.

Google says they are wrong.

Either way, the names, Social Security numbers and test scores of 619
students were still bouncing around the Web for people with computers to
find and read until late Friday, when the page was apparently removed.

Catawba County Schools chief technology officer Judith Ray said her
department removed the file from its storage server Friday. They are also
working to delete any other electronic files that may contain Social
Security numbers or other secure student information.

The information was stored in the system¹s DocuShare server, which required
a username and password to access, Ray said.

³One of the students on the list had a presence on the Web,² she said. ³In
Google¹s effort to get information on her, one of its spiders latched onto
her name in this document. We were not aware that password-protected sites
are set up like that. To our knowledge, Google could only cache unsecure
information that did not require a password or username.²

She¹s right, Barry Schnitt, Google spokesman, said. ³If there is a password,
we cannot access or cache the site,² Schnitt said.

While the argument between the school system and Google continues, parents
are voicing their own frustrations.

The central office received more than 50 calls from concerned parents and
relatives Friday, said public information officer Beverly Lampe. One parent
shared with Lampe that her daughter has been a victim of identity theft
within the last year. The young woman¹s name is on the list of 619 students.

Letters were mailed Friday to the parents of students whose name and
information is floating on the Internet, alerting them to the situation.

Markley said information for parents is also available on the school
system¹s Web site.

³We have very secure systems here,² Markley said. ³There are other private
businesses and companies that don¹t, so parents should be watching those as
well.²

On the Net:

www.catawba.k12.nc.us

lwilliamson at hickoryrecord.com