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Hackers steal Western Michigan University professor's paycheck

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Re: Hackers steal Western Michigan University professor's paycheck

#31

Post by hatbert »

HarryHirsch wrote: post #19
nmridul wrote: post #8

>> A hacker had gotten into Cool's WMU account and changed the routing number for his payments, he said, sending $1,518.62 to a bank in Utah..... There was $11.08 left in the Utah account, which is all Cool has gotten back of his paycheck. Just curious. A professor is paid only $1,529.70 ? Hope it is weekly.

Actually, this fellow is paid $70K/year (he's at a public university where salaries are public). He got into the system before the big shift to lecturers and adjuncts, and since he has been in the system for a long time there is a long history of salary increases, back when times were good, and never a decrease - the phenomenon of sticky wages in action. Whether his compensation is fair is a different question. His h…

I realize that central Michigan has a fairly low cost of living, but that seems surprisingly low for a tenured professor.

Re: Hackers steal Western Michigan University professor's paycheck

#32

Post by yetanotherphd »

thezach wrote: post #20

My father and mother work at this University. The same login gets you into email, that gets you into payroll and all other employee areas of the employee website. So if the attacker was able to get the login and password through whatever means it would make any sort of email confirmation useless. As far as the WMU police investigating this I think its a bit of a conflict of interest as their system was hacked and the…

I don't think there is any conflict of interest. The police are only concerned with the criminals who stole the password. Whether the university owes the employees their pay because of the lax security they implemented, is almost certainly a civil matter.

Re: Hackers steal Western Michigan University professor's paycheck

#33

Post by ams6110 »

fnordfnordfnord wrote: post #24

Employee handbook probably has a clause in "IT Policy" that says 'Employee is responsible for maintaining the security of his/her password' or some similar such nonsense that the Uni will try to hide behind. Typically the only way for employees to opt out of this (when this option is available at all) is to elect to receive a paper check. My employer's system (which comes from a big name edu-prise sw vendor) takes a…

Many universities no longer offer paper checks as an option, sometimes with exceptions for the first paycheck, and the final one. You must set up direct deposit with a bank or credit union.

Re: Hackers steal Western Michigan University professor's paycheck

#34

Post by frodopwns »

This same thing happened at CU Boulder. The phishing attempts take the form of an email from IT stating that the user has exceeded their max email capacity. The letter then tells the user to forward their credentials to the mailer.

It is sad that people can't learn to keep their passwords to themselves.

Re: Hackers steal Western Michigan University professor's paycheck

#35

Post by fnordfnordfnord »

ams6110 wrote: post #33
fnordfnordfnord wrote: post #24

Employee handbook probably has a clause in "IT Policy" that says 'Employee is responsible for maintaining the security of his/her password' or some similar such nonsense that the Uni will try to hide behind. Typically the only way for employees to opt out of this (when this option is available at all) is to elect to receive a paper check. My employer's system (which comes from a big name edu-prise sw vendor) takes a…

Many universities no longer offer paper checks as an option, sometimes with exceptions for the first paycheck, and the final one. You must set up direct deposit with a bank or credit union.

I know, and a paper check might not protect you in any case if the attacker is able to change that option through the online system.

Re: Hackers steal Western Michigan University professor's paycheck

#37

Post by HarryHirsch »

hatbert wrote: post #31
HarryHirsch wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Actually, this fellow is paid $70K/year (he's at a public university where salaries are public). He got into the system before the big shift to lecturers and adjuncts, and since he has been in the system for a long time there is a long history of salary increases, back when times were good, and never a decrease - the phenomenon of sticky wages in action. Whether his compensation is fair is a different question. His h…

I realize that central Michigan has a fairly low cost of living, but that seems surprisingly low for a tenured professor.

$70K is the market rate for an assistant professor at that level of school.

For comparison, a full-time lecturer gets around $40K, and the rate for a part-time adjunct with no benefits is something like $6K per section taught. That is low. It's no surprise that universities are moving to that employment model.

Re: Hackers steal Western Michigan University professor's paycheck

#38

Post by HarryHirsch »

yetanotherphd wrote: post #32
thezach wrote: post #20

My father and mother work at this University. The same login gets you into email, that gets you into payroll and all other employee areas of the employee website. So if the attacker was able to get the login and password through whatever means it would make any sort of email confirmation useless. As far as the WMU police investigating this I think its a bit of a conflict of interest as their system was hacked and the…

I don't think there is any conflict of interest. The police are only concerned with the criminals who stole the password. Whether the university owes the employees their pay because of the lax security they implemented, is almost certainly a civil matter.

At my university the Health and Safety people do nothing worse than hand out warnings, even if they come across serious safety issues in laboratories. It's almost as if they were at risk of losing their jobs if they imposed fines or shut down a lab altogether. Let the fun and games continue until someone burns!

If you believe that the police and the internal IT investigation aren't under pressure to find for the university I've got an Eiffel Tower to sell to you.

Re: Hackers steal Western Michigan University professor's paycheck

#39

Post by jlgaddis »

fnordfnordfnord wrote: post #24

Employee handbook probably has a clause in "IT Policy" that says 'Employee is responsible for maintaining the security of his/her password' or some similar such nonsense that the Uni will try to hide behind. Typically the only way for employees to opt out of this (when this option is available at all) is to elect to receive a paper check. My employer's system (which comes from a big name edu-prise sw vendor) takes a…

> My employer's system (which comes from a big name edu-prise sw vendor) takes a 6 digit password and my system username is public information ...

Ahhh, Sungard.

Re: Hackers steal Western Michigan University professor's paycheck

#40

Post by up_and_up »

mhb wrote: post #12
nmridul wrote: post #8

>> A hacker had gotten into Cool's WMU account and changed the routing number for his payments, he said, sending $1,518.62 to a bank in Utah..... There was $11.08 left in the Utah account, which is all Cool has gotten back of his paycheck. Just curious. A professor is paid only $1,529.70 ? Hope it is weekly.

Gym teacher? http://homepages.wmich.edu/~cool/

Gym teacher with a Ed.D. in Pedagogy and Motor Learning. So no not just a gym teacher.
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