“I’m helping to develop policies and user education about privacy and computer security,” Hoadley says. “We’re trying to raise awareness about best practices, wise usage and secure programming.”

The biggest issues for an institution like Metro State are the sheer size of its computer network and the different needs of its users. Too much security inhibits usage. Too little and the system could become vulnerable. Plus, because faculty members tend to experiment with new technologies or do their own research and development, their usage needs extend outside the boundaries of typical users.

Students, on the other hand, create problems mostly by plugging in worm-or virus-infected laptops or by using music-swapping software, which leaves Metro State open to liability.

“It’s an uphill battle,” sighs Hoadley, himself a 1986 Metro State graduate.

Hoadley, who began his academic career by earning a diploma in electronics at DeVry Institute, ran a movie theater in his hometown of Gillette, Wyo. before heading to Denver and Metro State. After earning his degree in mathematics with an emphasis in computer science, Hoadley taught Fortran programming at Metro State, then worked for the state’s Department of Institutions at Fort Logan. He returned to the college in 1989 to take a job in administrative computing.

Computer security, in part, is an education process, Hoadley says. Employees must be aware of what is and is not allowed under the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), how to handle certain types of data as well as how to keep their computers safe.

He believes that Metro State’s greatest vulnerability is someone downloading college data without knowing better and then it gets lost or stolen, which opens the college to liability.

Hoadley explains that certain things need to be encrypted—scrambled—to protect the data from unauthorized access if the data is stolen. “That’s my biggest concern,” he adds.