A Word of Warning

By Lars Kongshem

Lars Kongshem is assistant editor and webmaster of Electronic School.

When security expert Dan Farmer released SATAN on the Internet in April, many feared the worst. The software he codeveloped -- an acronym for Security Administrator's Tool for Analyzing Networks -- is designed to uncover security problems at Internet-connected computer sites. Intended to help network administrators, it could just as easily be put to illicit use by a hacker, critics said. But three months later, it appears SATAN did the Internet a favor by raising awareness about security.

Farmer, now at Sun Microsystems, warns that lack of knowledge about network security could hurt K-12 schools as they connect to the Internet.

"If you really don't know much about security and you just hop on the Internet, there's a good chance you'll get hammered," Farmer says.

Unlike the K-12 network administrators interviewed for this story, Farmer does not think schools can take comfort in the belief that they are less attractive targets for hackers.

"I would not assume that K-12 sites are less at risk from hackers," he says. "Hackers like to break into all types of computers, and they will break into one system just so they can break into other systems. To think that schools are somehow safe is dangerous."

Be prepared, Farmer says: "People are not nice out there."