College officials said the threats are not just from smart and sophisticated pranksters and criminals, but also from mischievous teens who have figured ways to capture computers. Colleges and universities battle hackers and viruses every day as a matter of course, . . .
College officials said the threats are not just from smart and sophisticated pranksters and criminals, but also from mischievous teens who have figured ways to capture computers. Colleges and universities battle hackers and viruses every day as a matter of course, not unlike the way hospitals try to eradicate health-threatening germs and killer viruses to save lives. Neither colleges or hospitals can live apart from the pests and parasites. And the problem is growing.

Last year some 52,000 attacks on computer networks were reported to a Carnegie Mellon University center that coordinates emergency responses in the computer world.

Many of these attacks happen on college campuses, involving thousands of academic sites across the country.