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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (April 26, 1994)
x SPORTS l-back ready for Raiders Calvin Jones, the second-leading rusher in Husker history, was taken 80th by the Los Angeles Raiders. Page 7 Tuesday 71/44 Today, there will be a chance of thundershowers. April 26, 1994 University of Nebraska-Lincoln Vol. 93 No. 149 Student recovers in wake of mom s murder Editor's note: The following is Alissa Reider’s account of her mother's murder in February 1993. Reider’s brother is serving an II- to 20-year sentence for the murder. Reider is a University of Nebraska Lincoln sophomore. By Angie Brunkow Senior Reporter_ Alissa Reider and her brother Brett monitored the climate inside their home like the weather. “She’s mildly cranky right now,” Brett would tell Alissa when she returned home from school. “I’d avoid her right now if 1 were you.” Claudia’s mood ruled the west Omaha home and the four member family who lived inside it. “I didn’t like being around her because her temper would snap inevitably,” Alissa says. “She could be in a good mood, and a lot of times she would act like she and I were best friends ... and then she would change.” Change could mean a pound ing: sometimes verbally, some times physically. For several years, the two siblings withstood the radical mood swings of their mother, a manic-depressive. Last year, with Alissa away at college, Brett decided he couldn’t endure it any longer. He stabbed his mother to death. “ Friends, family and colleagues who had envisioned the success ful father, dutiful wife and ideal children as the perfect family finally got a true glimpse of what occurred inside the Reider home. John Lammel. principal of the high school Brett attended, was shocked, an Omaha newspaper reported. “(Brett) has been involved in freshman football, is currently involved in concert band, is a See ALISSA on 3 William Lauer/DN Arrrrggh! Denise Walter off Lincoln wails In frustration whle trying to break into her son Nick’s car. “He’s always locking his keys in his car,” she said. -_-— a Alissa Reider and her father make lunch Monday afternoon. Hackers finding it easy to break into computers By Angie Brunkow Senior Reporter _ '_ The lack of security in the Computer Science and Engineering department’s computer system is an open invitation to hackers, one computer engineering student said. But department members said that didn’t give them license to hack. “When the weather’s hot like this,” said Steve Reichcnbach, an assistant professor in the department, “1 leave the windows on my house open, but it’s not an invitation to come in.” Last week, James Taylor, an undeclared freshman at the University of Ncbraska Lincoln, was arrested for breaking into the system. Taylor was charged with Access without Au thorization, a Class V misdemeanor. Rcichenbach said more arrests and charges could be made in the case. Rcichenbach said by accessing the system, hackers could get into professors’ files, send bogus e-mail messages and destroy faculty re search and student projects. “Many students in this department arc wor ried about protecting files,” he said. A computer engineering student, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the computer science department should blame ilselfwhen its system was accessed by hackers. The file containing the encrypted passwords for the system are accessible by anyone, the student said. Hackers simply use a dictionary and a password-making program to break the code. “Anyone could learn to do it,” he said. About 40 percent of the passwords on the computer science system have been cracked, he said. “If you leave lollipops sitting in front of the store, somebody’s going to take one,” he said. Joseph Leung, chairman of the computer science department, said staff members were constantly upgrading the system to keep hack ers out. -44 When the weather’s hot like this I leave the windows on my house open, but it’s not an invitation to come in. —Reichenbach Computer Science assistant professor -ff - “It’s an ongoing battle,” he said. * The department upgrades system security just to have hackers break in again, he said. The department has been working to protect the system since the last break-in, Leung said. Blit Reichenbach said it would never be com pletely closed to hackers. “It’s not possible to make a system com pletely secure,” he said. Efforts to make the system more secure arc time-consuming, Reichenbach said, taking him and others away from more important tasks, such as preparing for class. “It’s not a part ofourjobs that is productive,” he said. But the student said department members should take the time. “It’s just laziness and ignorance,” he said. Reichenbach said university penalties and the new.strictcrNebraskalawsagainst hacking should deter hackers in the future. Possible punishments include expulsion from the uni versity and felony charges, he said. “It people become more aware of the pos sible penalties, there will be many fewer people that will be willing to take those risks,” he said. The student said department members should try to stop hackers before, not after, they hack. “In the underground, there’s a lot ofdisdain for people that would rather catch and convict hackers than make their systems more secure,” he said. “They’d rather arrest you than fix it.” But Reichenbach disagreed. “The system is secure from everyone who is properly using the system,” he said. “I don’t think we’d use that standard for any other phase of our lives.” Journalist warns of reckless U.S. involvement in Bosnia By Brian Sharp Staff Reporter _______ It began with a handshake, and it’s been followed by silence. On Sept. 13,1993. the lead ers of the Palestinian Liberation Or ganization and Israel rcachedan agree men t that would bri ng peace and would give Palestinians the right to self-rule on the Gaza Strip and West Bank. Since then, it’s been eerily quiet, a renowned journalist said Monday. Thomas Friedman, a New York Times correspondent, spoke about the realities of that historic handshake. Friedman, author of “From Beirut to Jerusalem,” was the guest speaker of the E.N. Thompson Forum on World Issues at the Lied Center for Perform ing Arts. “What was re ally going on (with the handshake) was Yasser Arafat (PLO chairman)wasslip ping beneath the waves,” Friedman _ said. Aratat was R’iedman about to go under, and just at that moment, who of all people but the prime minister oflsrael (Yitzhak Rabin) threw him a life line.” Friedman said there were reasons for each. With the end of the Cold War, Arafat found himself deprived of the support he had previously enjoyed. Arafat was weakened by Eastern Europe’s trend to move from total itar ian rule to democracy, Friedman said, and sulTcred another blow by support ing Saddam Hussein in the Gulf War. “(Arafat) was weak enough to ac cept Israel’s terms, but still strong enough to make them stick in his own community. For Rabin, it was more an issue of security, Friedman said, which was reshaped by the Gulf War. “There was the (battle) front and there was daily life, and the two were separate in the Israeli psyche,” he said. “The First Israelis killed by Scuds were killed in their bedrooms. The message on the Scuds said there is no front anymore.” The territories (Gaza and the West Bank), which were supposed to be a sourceofsecurity, had become a source of insecurity, Friedman said. Only by separating from the territories could the Israelis feel safe again, he said. “Historically, it was the wrong men, in the wrong place, at the right time.” Friedman said. “Fortunately, this time we had the right people, in the right place, at the right time.” The mistake most people make in assessing the problems in the Middle East is believing that opposing sides don ’ t understand one another, he said. In reality, they understand one an other all too well, which means un derstanding that they each want somc See FORUM on 6
