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NEWS
November 1, 2013
Phishing increases on campus, harms student email
BY KINSEY DANZIS
STAfi: WiUT£R
"You are hereby required to reply to this
email with your webmail account username
and password —"
Stop right there.
If you have received this email from the
"Guilford Helpdesk," one of the senders of
suspicious emails circulating campus right
now, you are not required to do anything of
the sort. In fact, you should not — unless you
want to undermine the security of your email
account and whatever personal information
is within it.
So far, over 260 Guilford College accounts
have been hacked this semester alone, and
that number is still rising.
Phishing, as this type of hacking is called,
involves asking people directly for their
account information rather than trying to
break into their email.
"It takes too long to break encryption
and passwords," said Chief Information
Officer Craig Gray. "It's just easier to trick
people into giving you the username and
password."
Such trickery has always existed at
Guilford, but now we are in the midst of a
spike. Phishing attempts are up about 60
percent from last semester, and students are
feeling the heat.
"The phishing at Guilford is atrocious,"
said Trey Woodlief, an Early College
junior whose account was hacked from
Nigeria through a supposed "Helpdesk"
requirement. "The sheer amount of emails
coming through leaves the college, as a
whole, vulnerable."
There is no single motivation to phish.
Some may hack thousands of emails and sell
them to others who will use any number of
them for black market purchases or under-
the-table deals, while another hacker might
just use them for spamming.
"It's a new semester, and there's a new
group of people who get email accounts that
didn't exist before," said Associate Professor
of Philosophy Vance Ricks, who currently
teaches a course on computer ethics. "That's
several hundred new opportunities to
compromise someone's account."
Guilford is a small college compared
to many others in the nation, so if several
hundred new emails are created each year,
imagine how many the larger institutions
must have. That adds up to a lot of potential
targets for phishers, and it creates a big issue
on campuses.
"Even though just a small percentage of
the Guilford population is getting hacked,
that doesn't make it any less of a problem,"
said senior Sarah Mehta, who has received
multiple hacking emails since last year.
"Email accounts are one thing, but what if
these people can somehow access even more
personal information?"
For the Guilford TT&S department, it is a
fight to keep up with the constant increase of
hacked accounts and prevent consequences,
such as identity theft and blacklisting.
"Security is a constant struggle," said
Gray. "We're constantly trying to strike
balance between the freedom of people to
use the technology they want to use with the
need for security."
Sadly, there is only so much they can do
aside from educating the community about
the signs and dangers of phishipg. What
it all boils down to is that it is important
to be cautious when giving out personal
information online, even through an email
that may or may not be secure.
"It's important to listen to that still, small
voice, as the Quakers say, that tells you that
there's something just a little off about this
message," said Ricks. "If you're not sure,
then what's the harm in waiting an extra 10
minutes or even an extra day before replying
to an email or click on a link?"
After all, it is better to be safe than sorry.
Alumna teaches business, hairdressing skills to fight Cambodian sex trade
BY ANNA OATES
Stmpf WfurrcR
"An estimated 30,000
Cambodian women have been
trafficked into forced labor in
neighboring Asian countries," U.N.
Inter-Agency Project on Human
Trafficking reports.
And that number is rising.
However, Shaina Machlus '09 is
trying to help fight this injustice
with her work through The Trade
Foundation.
This unique foundation pairs
two things that normally are not
associated with one another: hair
and the sex trade.
Since graduating from Guilford
College, Machlus has helped
women in Cambodia escape
the sex trade by teaching them
the necessary skills to become
successful hairdressers.
Most of these women are forced
into the sex trade. Whether through
extreme impoverished conditions
or abuse, sex traffickers exploit
these women and deprive them of
their free will.
Some women believe
prostitution is their only option to
bring in enough money to survive.
Some are even sold into the sex
trade by their own families.
"Most of us grow up hearing
that we can be whatever we want
to be," Machlus said to News &
Record. "Most of them had never
heard that. So the dynamic of
choice was really powerful."
In a culture where so much is
based on looks, the choice to learn
hairdressing can bring in enough
financially to be a life-changer for
women in Cambodia.
"People get their hair done every
day, including women in the sex
trade," Machlus said to News &
Record. "There were three to four
salons on every block."
Hair skills are not the only thing
these women are being offered.
According to The Trade
Foundation's mission statement,
students are also educated on how
to run a small business and bring
positive contributions to their
surrounding communities.
"I really want to put power in
peoples' hands, and let them shape
what it becomes," Machlus said to
News & Record.
Machlus has made great strides
towards this, both with her work
in Cambodia and her work with
the Interactive Resource Center
in Greensboro, where she offers
haircuts to the homeless.
"She is what I would consider an
ideal Guilford student: thoughtful,
kind, politically conscious.
culturally sensitive and aware,
generous in spirit and loving," said
Associate Professor of English and
Department Chair Diya Abdo, who
also gets her hair done by Machlus.
Associate Professor of Justice
and Policy Studies Sherry Giles
also takes pride in Machlus' post-
Guilford achievements.
"Tm happy to see a Guilford
alumna doing this work that hews
so closely to the college's core
values," said Giles.
Machlus plans to return to
Cambodia this February to
continue her work through The
Trade Foundation.
"For everything I taught, I also
gained," Machlus said to News
& Record. "The important parts
of teaching, in addition to skills
and job training tools, are the
emotional tools and emotional
support you give."
Machlus' work not only frees
these women from the sex trade
but also gives them a sense of
power and control over their own
lives.
"Empowering women is
incredibly important, in any
culture," said Abdo.
"(Machlus' work) certainly
helps to create the conditions for
women to develop the power to
choose how they earn their living,"
Giles said.
Machlus found the women she
worked with had a lot to offer the
world.
"I saw that first day that they
were talented, artistic, intelligent
and deserved to be treated as
professionals," Machlus said to
News & Record.
As The Trade Foundation says
on their site: "Education is the only
lasting solution."