OIT Students Achieve Success

Murat Gur and Michael Koehler, computer information systems majors from Delta State and student employees of the Office of Information Technology (OIT), are traveling with Dr. Darry Hardy ( professor and program coordinator for the department of Computer Information Systems) this week to participate in the Association of Information Technology Professionals (AITP) 2006 National Collegiate Conference. Koehler, a Cleveland resident, competed in the Region 7 AITP conference held recently in Birmingham , Alabama and finished first in the PC Troubleshooting competition. Gur arrived at DSU from Turkey two years ago complete with Microsoft Certifications has had great success on campus and in the Delta. Both students are members of the Delta State AITP group that is composed mainly of CIS majors on the campus.

This year's Conference will be held on March 30th through April 1st, at the Adam's Mark Hotel in Dallas , Texas . The theme for the conference is "Blazing the Trails of the New IT Frontier", and will deliver unparalleled opportunities for students planning a career in the information technology field. Over 850 of the nation's top Information Technology college and university students from all over the nation are expected to attend speaker sessions from some of the foremost nationwide companies in the IT industry, compete in national contest events and interact with recruiters from leading IT employers.

The AITP is a nationally recognized association with over 9,000 members consisting of both students and working professionals in the computer industry. The organization offers opportunities for leadership and education through partnerships with industry, government and academia. For more information on the conference, planned events, or AITP, please visit http://www.aitp.org/ncc/ncc2006/aitp/index.html

Tips & Tid Bits: from Microsoft

The Crabby Office Lady

This column is not devoted to how you can dodge tax time; no, my goal is to help you with the taxes you have this year and to get you organized so you're not looking for tax answers from an Office columnist next year.

This article will help you: Get (and stay) organized, Work with the experts, give you pointers for When you ARE the expert and how to Talk to the IRS.

Click here to read the full article.

Security Update: Online Sites Jeopardize Your Privacy

As was mentioned in the last newsletter, OIT is concerned about the use of community sites such as Facebook, MySpace, BlackPlanet and others by the DSU community. These concerns are heightened by the fact that these sites share your private information with other sources. The following statements came directly from the privacy policies on each site.

From Facebook Privacy Policy: “By using Facebook, you are consenting to have your personal data transferred to and processed in the United States .”

For the full privacy statement, click here.

From MySpace Privacy Policy: “ Please be aware that whenever you voluntarily post public information to Journals, WebLogs, Message Boards, Classifieds or any other Public Forums that that information can be accessed by the public and can in turn be used by those people to send you unsolicited communications.”

For the full policy statement, click here.

For these reasons and many others, the Office of Information Technology discourages the use of these sites. Once these sites have your information, they can and do trade this information in a variety of ways, including selling some data to vendors for commercial advertising. Once you post information on these sites, virtually anyone can obtain access to that information, including photos, and oftentimes without your knowledge. Before you create an account on any of these sites, be sure to read the policy statement and that you understand what can happen to your personal data and photos.

If you would like to read additional information, please see the USA Today article on CyberSecurity.