Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Illinois college, hit by ransomware attack, to shut down

nbcnews.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

51–60 of 89 posts

Re: Illinois college, hit by ransomware attack, to shut down

#51

Post by Loughla »

tmp_anon_22 wrote: post #28
Loughla wrote: post #14

Hey, I actually have experience with that school! I did some consulting with them about a decade ago. The ransomware attack certainly didn't help, but it is wildly misleading to say, or even imply that caused them to shut down. The actual reasons: (a) They filled a niche that didn't need to be filled anymore. They used to absorb students from other local universities (ISU, UIS, UIUC). Those schools have realized the…

> enrollment management What would be a comparable industry perspective to the way colleges fight over tuition generators (students)? Oil companies fighting over oil fields?

Marketing pepsi versus coke maybe? It's all sales if you boil it down (sadly).

Actually, in my opinion, one of the main problems in higher education today is that the value proposition of the actual education and student experience is secondary to the ability to market. In other words, new programs are presented by faculty (or rarely staff because of politics) and administration will immediately ask how this can be sold to increase enrollment (read: revenue). In other words, what is best for students, in terms of experience and employment outcomes, will always take a backseat to what is flashy and looks good in a brochure.

Re: Illinois college, hit by ransomware attack, to shut down

#52

Post by abirch »

Loughla wrote: post #14

Hey, I actually have experience with that school! I did some consulting with them about a decade ago. The ransomware attack certainly didn't help, but it is wildly misleading to say, or even imply that caused them to shut down. The actual reasons: (a) They filled a niche that didn't need to be filled anymore. They used to absorb students from other local universities (ISU, UIS, UIUC). Those schools have realized the…

There are many of these colleges that are going under. Their competitive advantage was that not everyone could go to the top Tier schools so they provide an expensive education. Especially when you see what you can do with Bloom Tech (fka Lambda School)

Re: Illinois college, hit by ransomware attack, to shut down

#54

Post by pledess »

My thoughts immediately went to a hypothetical ethical question. Suppose that a ransomware threat actor saw the NBC story, felt bad that this happened to Lincoln, and offered to make (anonymously) the "transformational donation" mentioned in the story, while making clear that the source of funds was ransom received from other victims. Should Lincoln accept the money?

(In other words, there's a yin and yang situation in which the ransomware threat actor happens to have a philanthropic arm.)

Re: Illinois college, hit by ransomware attack, to shut down

#55

Post by newsclues »

tmp_anon_22 wrote: post #28
Loughla wrote: post #14

Hey, I actually have experience with that school! I did some consulting with them about a decade ago. The ransomware attack certainly didn't help, but it is wildly misleading to say, or even imply that caused them to shut down. The actual reasons: (a) They filled a niche that didn't need to be filled anymore. They used to absorb students from other local universities (ISU, UIS, UIUC). Those schools have realized the…

> enrollment management What would be a comparable industry perspective to the way colleges fight over tuition generators (students)? Oil companies fighting over oil fields?

Education is a unique industry and market on to itself. I worked in a part of it, and edu is just different than real business.

You have government funding, both for research and education.

You have tuition and fees, which students pay but there are student loans and grants etc.

You have endowments.

You have alumni and donor funding.

You have schools that develop technology and own profitable patents.

Sports is its own topic that I don't know enough about to comment on.

Re: Illinois college, hit by ransomware attack, to shut down

#56

Post by newsclues »

astrange wrote: post #38
nsv wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Any industry which has clients that pay for a service, I guess.

The difference is that (some) colleges are also motivated to get you to apply so they can reject you, because it makes them look more exclusive.

Don't some financial service businesses operate on similar principals.

Re: Illinois college, hit by ransomware attack, to shut down

#57

Post by dfxm12 »

hinkley wrote: post #39
Buttons840 wrote: post #5

Nations should lessen the penalties for white-hat and even grey-hat hackers who report their findings. They should have strong protections; they are helping all of society and national security. Instead, we have politicians and executives who make legal threats to cover their mistakes and everyone suffers for it. I have this view because I have personally walked away from security problems I've discovered simply by p…

Having better ways to telegraph your intentions is, as far as I'm aware, still an issue, and I would support improved/expanded methods of 'escrow' for this sort of work. Way back in college, I talked myself into doing a white-hat hack of a service another student was running that I valued highly. He had used software with a rather nasty CERT advisory outstanding. My attempts failed, which meant he had patched his sys…

Way back in college, I talked myself into doing a white-hat hack of a service another student was running that I valued highly.

"White hat" describes someone acting on behalf of the owner of the system being tested. It sounds like you acted on your own and thus were grey hat hacking. I only bring this up because it has different ramifications, legal, social, and otherwise.

Re: Illinois college, hit by ransomware attack, to shut down

#58

Post by toomuchtodo »

abirch wrote: post #52
Loughla wrote: post #14

Hey, I actually have experience with that school! I did some consulting with them about a decade ago. The ransomware attack certainly didn't help, but it is wildly misleading to say, or even imply that caused them to shut down. The actual reasons: (a) They filled a niche that didn't need to be filled anymore. They used to absorb students from other local universities (ISU, UIS, UIUC). Those schools have realized the…

There are many of these colleges that are going under. Their competitive advantage was that not everyone could go to the top Tier schools so they provide an expensive education. Especially when you see what you can do with Bloom Tech (fka Lambda School)

https://hechingerreport.org/analysis-hundreds-of-colleges-an... (Analysis: hundreds of colleges and universities show financial warning signs)

https://tuitiontracker.org/fitness/

Re: Illinois college, hit by ransomware attack, to shut down

#59

Post by shuntress »

Loughla wrote: post #51
tmp_anon_22 wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> enrollment management What would be a comparable industry perspective to the way colleges fight over tuition generators (students)? Oil companies fighting over oil fields?

Marketing pepsi versus coke maybe? It's all sales if you boil it down (sadly). Actually, in my opinion, one of the main problems in higher education today is that the value proposition of the actual education and student experience is secondary to the ability to market. In other words, new programs are presented by faculty (or rarely staff because of politics) and administration will immediately ask how this can be s…

Well that is the problem with everything, right?

When Profit is the system's main incentive, it can be easy for decision makers to start viewing "profit" as an input rather than an output.

Re: Illinois college, hit by ransomware attack, to shut down

#60

Post by blagie »

pm90 wrote: post #53

would be so easy for some random billionaire to cut them a check

It wouldn't be easy. It seems like they were providing a sub-par education at >$30k per year.

https://lincolncollege.edu/file/471/21-22%20Undergraduate%20...

Math runs out at calculus. No computer science. Very few programs which would translate to real careers.

Reforming a school like this is much more than cutting a check. It's a worthwhile project, but it's a major undertaking.

Post reply on HN