Schools need better computer security

Computers have been attractive sources of theft since they entered Hawaii’s public school classes and the recent surge in their usage in classroom has heightened the risk. Honolulu police were quick to recover about half of the 62 computers stolen this week from Waianae’s Leihoku Elementary School, but education officials must respond to the growing crime with a smart, systemwide security policy, which is now lacking.

State Schools Superintendent Kathryn Matayoshi expressed concern early this year about "internal controls" that had fallen short of preventing thefts from within schools, including the theft of nearly $70,000 in money laundering by a Pearl Ridge Elementary School secretary. The enticement of expensive, small laptop computers presents a greater challenge from the outside.

Schools with louvered windows present a challenging vulnerability. Thieves broke into two buildings at Leihoku to gain access to eight classrooms by removing louvers and cutting screens late Sunday night or early Monday, according to Principal Randall Miura. The thieves stole 60 Apple MacBook laptops used by students and two teachers’ computers, worth $90,000 total.

The thievery momentarily jolted plans for Leihoku’s Hawaii State Assessment testing of students in grades 3 and above, set to start next month. The 910-student campus was left with only 60 laptops, threatening to create a computer "scheduling and logistics issue," Miura said.

Fortunately, 30 of the computers were recovered by Tuesday, thanks to community folks who provided successful leads to police. Indeed, communities must be vigilant against providing a market for these stolen goods, and it is active disdain against such crimes that will be a powerful force against them. The remainder of Waianae’s stolen laptops may have ended up in the hands of unsuspecting buyers and police are asking that they bring them to nearby police stations for verification.

This partial success by police, however, is far from assured in the future. The state Department of Education estimated last year that the number of computers in the public school system had grown from 44,000 in 2003 to 72,000.

Miura told reporters that he and school officials met in the aftermath of the break-in to discuss security procedures, but declined to detail security measures. A DOE spokesman said no systemwide policy on securing computers exists — and this is a glaring gap that needs remedy. Such measures should be conducted throughout the department to develop a laptop theft prevention plan, perhaps similar to that adopted last year by the California Risk Management Authority, represented by each school district’s board of trustees.

School officials in California, for example, are urged to clarify the use of classroom computer storage units. Those include carts with keys maintained by the information technology manager and the office manager, who distribute them to teachers during the day and retrieve them upon their being signed back on the same day.

Laptops to remain in the classroom between periods or overnight should be locked securely. No two storage cars can be opened with the same key. In addition, California students and staff are made aware that "laptops are able to be tracked, disabled and recovered when and if they are removed from campus." Such a tracking system should be put into place throughout Hawaii’s DOE.

"The loss of laptops not only denies students and teachers of a critical learning tool," the California organization says, "but also costs our campuses substantial dollars in replacement and insurance claims."

Any thief who steals computers away from children is robbing them of education, as well as the precious sense of being safe in their environment. Isolated thefts of one or two computers snatched by teens two years ago at a Hawaii County school or from Old Maui High School in July may not have gotten the attention of Hawaii’s education officials. This large-scale lifting of laptops in Waianae, though, should prompt a statewide system of measures to secure computers inside schools.