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Educator loved travel, students Woman killed Monday in 2-vehicle crash near Cherry Valley By KATIE DAHLSTROM kdahlstrom@shawmedia.com DeKALB – Debra Hopkins would often run into grateful former students on her travels around the world, her husband, Roger Hopkins, remembered Tuesday. She retired as the director of the NIU CPA Review in 2012 after 27 years with the program,
How to keep data safe in cloud era
although she continued to work as the president of Hopkins CPA Knowledge, as well as teach and consult. She received a lifetime achievement award in 2013 from the Illinois CPA Society in recognition of her work in her field. All told, friends, family and colleagues said Debra Hopkins, 62, of DeKalb, touched thousands of lives before a two-vehicle crash Monday near Cherry Val-
ley took her life. “She loved friends and family, and life and travel,” Roger Hopkins said. “It seemed like every time we were traveling somewhere, one of her accounting students would come up to us and thank her.” Among those travels were two trips to Egypt in the late 1990s, when the couple received a personal tour of the pyramids from
Egyptian officials. The couple’s most recent trip took them to Windsor and Highclere Castles in England in June. The Hopkinses were married for 41 years, moving to DeKalb in 1984 in part so Debra could earn her master’s degree in accounting science from NIU. She became the director of the CPA Review in 1991. When she retired in 2012, Deb-
ra wanted to spend more time with her children, Tony, 32, and Megan, 29, as well as her grandson, Greyson, 4, Roger Hopkins said. She was looking forward to having a granddaughter in December, Roger Hopkins said Tuesday. Illinois State Police said Debra Hopkins was driving north on
Debra Hopkins, 62, of DeKalb, died in a collision with a semitrailer Monday.
See HOPKINS, page A3
127th ANNUAL SANDWICH FAIR
Drawing crowds from near, far
By MAE ANDERSON The Associated Press NEW YORK – The circulation of nude photographs stolen from celebrities’ online accounts has thrown a spotlight on the security of cloud computing, a system used by a growing number of Americans to store personal information over the Internet. On Tuesday, Apple acknowledged the security breakdown and blamed it on intruders who were able to figure out usernames and passwords and bypass other safeguards. The company said it found no evidence of a widespread problem in iCloud or its Find my iPhone services. But the theft of the photos raises questions about the protection of information stored beyond a person’s own computer or mobile device. Some key questions and answers about information that is stored remotely:
Q: What is the cloud? A: The cloud is a way of storing photos, documents, email and other data on faraway machines. Amazon, Apple, Google and Microsoft all offer cloud-based storage. Smaller companies like Dropbox and Evernote do, too. The practice saves space on computers, smartphones and tablets, and allows users to access the same information from any device. And if you lose your phone, for example, you don’t lose your vacation pictures. The drawback is that you are putting your information somewhere else, so you run the risk of a hacking attack on those systems and accounts.
Q: Is it secure? A: For the most part, yes. Companies invest a lot to ensure that customers’ private information stays private. “The short answer is the cloud is often more secure than other storage,” says Rich Mogull, CEO of security research and advisory firm Securosis. But that doesn’t mean the system can’t be compromised. “There are a lot of attackers who have a lot of time,” Mogull says.
Q: How can individuals make their data more secure? A: You need passwords to access your accounts, so
Danielle Guerra – dguerra@shawmedia.com
Marvin Koerper, of Naperville, cards the wool of Jim Pillar’s polled dorset ram lamb in the sheep enclosure Tuesday at the Sandwich Fairgrounds. Koerper, also showing sheep of his own, was helping Pillar, of Mendota, by preparing his sheep for showing today. Koerper first started showing sheep at the fair in 1960.
Sandwich Fair opens gates today; festivities continue through Sunday If you go
By KATIE DAHLSTROM kdahlstrom@shawmedia.com
What: The Sandwich Fair Where: 15738 Pratt Road, Sandwich When: 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. today through Sunday Cost: General admission is $9; children 5 to 12 are $5; children younger than 5 are free
S
ANDWICH – More than 50 years after Marvin Koerper first entered a sheep competition at the Sandwich Fair, he still makes his way to the fairgrounds every year. Koerper, of Naperville, has been competing at the annual celebration of agriculture and craft – not to mention one of Illinois’ largest county fairs – since 1960. “It’s a challenge to exhibit the animals and see how you do against other breeders,” said Koerper, 72, who Tuesday was brushing one of the sheep he will exhibit at the fair this week. “It kind of gets in your blood.” Koerper is one of more than 170,000 people who are expected to enjoy the 127th annual Sandwich Fair today through Sunday at the historic 181-acre fairgrounds on the west side of Sandwich. The fair boasts hundreds of vendors, more than 25,000 exhibitors, dozens of musicians and a carnival. For Becky Morphey, the super-
Lane Rohrer, 4, of Leland, pets his 5-month-old chester barrow pig named “Chuck” on Tuesday at the Sandwich Fairgrounds. This is the first time Rohrer is showing at the Sandwich Fair. His father, Charlie Rohrer, has been showing swine since he was little. Chuck weighs 240 pounds and Lane weighs 35 pounds. intendent of open photography and open ceramics, and junior art and ceramics, the Sandwich Fair is a time to catch up with friends. “You love it when [the fair] comes because you get to see
people you haven’t seen in a year,” Morphey said. “You talk for five minutes and it’s like you haven’t missed them.” Morphey, of Somonauk, has been involved for 28 years along
with Jodi Brummel of Newark. This year, they will sort through more than 3,000 photos submitted for judging. Visitors will find more things – livestock, crafts, photos – on display at the Sandwich Fair than at any other fair in the state, said fair Secretary Nancy Rex. “You can buy a general admission ticket and you can be busy for a good part of a day looking at people’s talents,” Rex said. Her history with the fair, as does Koerper’s, stretches back more than 50 years. She’s been involved since 1959, starting as a
See SANDWICH FAIR, page A3
See DATA SAFETY, page A4
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Sycamore High School’s courtyard revitalized / A3
Kaneland cross country finishes top among area teams at invite / B1
Junior named NIU starting QB for Saturday’s game against Northwestern / B1
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