Pittsburgh Litigation Attorney Matt Meade's Article on Data Security at Colleges Published in The Computer & Internet Lawyer

An article written by Matthew H. Meade, a shareholder in the Litigation Section and co-chair of the Data Security and Privacy Group at Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney's Pittsburgh office, was published in the October 2009, edition of The Computer & Internet Lawyer — a publication of Aspen Publishers. Meade's article, titled "Data Security and Privacy at Colleges and Universities," addressed the alarmingly high rate of data breaches that occur at universities and colleges.

As written by Meade, "Colleges and universities collect personal information from a diverse group of sources, including applicants, students, faculty, staff and alumni. … The sheer amount of personal data gathered from such a broad spectrum of categories creates unique challenges for institutions of higher learning. … In fact, it is readily apparent that academia has one of the highest frequencies of reported data security breaches compared to other sectors."

In the article, Meade examined "some of the recent data security incidents that have impacted academia, the root causes for those incidents, the current legal and regulatory framework applicable to colleges and universities' procedures for protecting personal information, and suggested improvements designed to develop stronger data security practices."