A new issue has been discovered with Kent State’s Flashline site.

Jason Wearley, executive director of Information Services, said that his incident response team found out that Flashline users who share their computers could have their pages compromised if they don’t log out of a session correctly. Wearley said the issue was new information to him.

“I haven’t heard of any problems with Flashline lately,” Wearley said. “When we went in, the issue we found was similar to something that happened with PCs months ago.”

Wearley said that there haven’t been any students who reported that their accounts were compromised, but someone who committed the act would face serious consequences.

“We look at invading someone’s account as a serious crime,” Wearley said. “Anyone who was guilty of accessing someone’s personal information would be considered as doing it with malicious intent and reported to authorities for a potential theft concern.”

Keri Adamik, sophomore early childhood education major, said she is nervous about the idea of someone accessing her Flashline account so easily.

“It’s really scary to think about,” Adamik said. “There’s a lot of personal information on there like your financial aid information.”

Adamik said that she thinks students need to be more aware of issues like this in order to prevent them from happening again.

“A lot of people use the public computers and can easily find what they need to change someone’s information,” Adamik said. “It’s something that we definitely need more awareness to.”

Wearley said Information Services is doing everything it can to make sure that students’ accounts are protected.

“Security is always our primary concern,” Wearley said. “Anyone with any vulnerabilities concerning Flashline is encouraged to report it to the help desk, and we will work on those issues.”

Wearley said in addition to seeking help with Flashline concerns, students should take certain steps to ensure their own safety.

“I recommend that students change their password every three or six months, which you can do in the ‘My Account’ tab of Flashline,” Wearley said. “Make sure your question and answer set isn’t easy to answer and always be cautious of shared machines.”

Contact Elizabeth Randolph at [email protected].