By: Michelle Hu <[email protected]>

Sophomore Nishanth Samala has never earned a degree in computer hacking. He has also never worked on a security system for a professional or public company.

However, Samala is not an ordinary computer whiz. He takes an AP Computer Science course and is currently on the school’s Web team. He knows his home computers inside and out. Though he said he has never done it, he knows how to bypass some of the complicated security measures that professionals set.

And that security is a growing concern here as more information and resources are becoming available online. Recently, this school released a new network to its students called Moodle, where students perform numerous tasks from home computers. Most helpful, however, is the ability for students to access their personal files at school from a private computer.

Communications department chairperson Bonnie Grimble said, “It’s a tremendous tool and a tremendous opportunity to be able to look and share your work from more than just school.”

Though this new development saves time and effort, there are new issues that arise. A serious issue that can occur is the sabotage of private information, usually documents or assignments for courses.

In fact, accessing someone else’s account is as easy as knowing their full names and ID numbers.

Terry Howell, technology supervisor for Carmel Clay Schools, said that the most serious security breaches that he cannot prevent are through “social engineering,” when someone gains information through personal contact. This can be through calling a secretary and impersonating a tech support employee or students giving strangers personal information through various means of communication. “The weakest link is the person,” Howell said.

Usually, the school would be able to track down who compromised the system’s security, but sometimes that ability is made obsolete.

“I think (Moodle is) insecure,” Samala said, “because if someone knew another person’s password, they can get in and the school wouldn’t know who did it because it’s an outside computer from the school network.”

However, the school system is now able to keep track of who is using Moodle.

According to Howell, Moodle does have the ability to track certain computers’ IP addresses, depending on the system. He said, “We do have mechanisms in place to help log information.”