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

61–70 of 89 posts

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

#61

Post by nanidin »

cheriot wrote: post #37
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?

Large purchase, most customers choose one and leave the market, many possible consumers, seasonal. Residential solar or real estate agents? The crazy thing to me about higher ed is that there's large loans and everybody qualifies. We'd probably get a better skills/job match by including the major in interest rate calculations.

> We'd probably get a better skills/job match by including the major in interest rate calculations.

This brings up the hairy issue that all education should not be focused on eventual income generation. We still need our English, History, and other majors out there in the real world even if we don't expect them to make a great ROI on their degrees. Their contributions to society are still worthwhile.

I think a policy that incorporates the major into the interest rate would drive universities to cut less profitable programs, and MAYBE lower tuition for those majors.

I think my approach to change the system would be to put a cap on the maximum loan that the government will back, and have that cap be influenced by major. This would be similar to the conventional loan situation for mortgages.

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

#62

Post by jacquesm »

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…

I totally buy that it wasn't the only reason but it is a possibility that an already fragile institution would be brought down by such an attack, if not this one then some other one.

Some constructs are on the edge and kicking them may cause them to collapse. It probably will only change the timing but it is still the kick that is the first order cause of the collapse.

Plenty of institutions are being hit with a perfect storm, two years of COVID and associated rules probably didn't help either.

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

#63

Post by Invictus0 »

pledess wrote: post #54

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…

Rephrased more generally, is it ethical to accept donations arising from criminal enterprises?

I think most people would say that the answer is no. This topic has been widely discussed on HN with regards to the MIT Media lab accepting money from Epstein.

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

#64

Post by thaumasiotes »

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…

> Those schools have realized the value of helping their own students be successful

Are they helping them in any way other than marking what would previously have been a failing grade as a passing grade instead?

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

#65

Post by daniel-cussen »

solveit wrote: post #13
zamadatix wrote: post #11

The posting on the colleges website paints a much bleaker picture. The ransomware attack certainly didn't help but the school was already near shutting down due to huge drops in enrollment from covid and expenses related to implementing remote learning. It's not like they were just doing fine and didn't think to spend money on IT resulting in an untimely demise they were on the way out and also happened to get hit by…

Of course. If the college was otherwise doing well, they would be able to get a loan to smooth over a rough patch.

Don't assume loans are that simple. Everyone assumes they're that simple. They're deadly, it's the compound interest, the intrinsically runaway loan, the situation Hell is based on. It leads to gambling and prostitution for example. All sins.

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

#66

Post by astrange »

newsclues wrote: post #56
astrange wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Like Amex Centurion cards? They're definitely exclusive (or fake-exclusive) but I haven't seen them actually advertise rejection rates like colleges sometimes do.

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

#67

Post by feoren »

daniel-cussen wrote: post #65
solveit wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Of course. If the college was otherwise doing well, they would be able to get a loan to smooth over a rough patch.

Don't assume loans are that simple. Everyone assumes they're that simple. They're deadly, it's the compound interest, the intrinsically runaway loan, the situation Hell is based on. It leads to gambling and prostitution for example. All sins.

> It leads to gambling and prostitution for example.

That took a wild turn. Does allowing ice fishing on Lake Michigan also lead to prostitution?

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

#68

Post by daniel-cussen »

feoren wrote: post #67
daniel-cussen wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Don't assume loans are that simple. Everyone assumes they're that simple. They're deadly, it's the compound interest, the intrinsically runaway loan, the situation Hell is based on. It leads to gambling and prostitution for example. All sins.

> It leads to gambling and prostitution for example. That took a wild turn. Does allowing ice fishing on Lake Michigan also lead to prostitution?

Does ice fishing as you describe involve debt?

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

#69

Post by anonymousDan »

toomuchtodo wrote: post #40
jabroni_salad wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Cyber providers are becoming much more savvy and are starting to decide that self-service 'yeah we are totally doing this' self-assessment checklists aren't sufficient. I have around 20 financial institutions on my client list and 11 of them have had their first hands-on penetration test in the past year. A year ago they would just send a laptop with Nessus on it and then sign off on a risk sheet full of the usual ll…

Seeing the same at fintechs. “We’re compliant.” “Prove it.”

Good!

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

#70

Post by UnpossibleJim »

pm90 wrote: post #53

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

Would be so easy for the US government to turn community colleges into 4 year colleges and make them part of them part of the basic curriculum, should students want to continue their education for free, while allowing private universities to remain just like private primary schools. Our population shouldn't have to rely on the whims of billionaires while our government wastes billions on no-bid contracts, ridiculous military spending and domestic spying programs... I apologize for my rant =)
Post reply on HN