The research report attached to this post was published in the “International Journal of Information Technology and Knowledge Management, January-June 2011, Volume 4, No. 1, pp. 233-238“. It covers some major security flaws in Moodle that will not surprise anyone who has been following Moodle security issues for the past few years. I no longer need to use Moodle, but for those of you who do rely on it, don’t be fooled…just because I’m no longer dedicating time and effort to publically demonstrate major security flaws in the Moodle code and design, don’t take that as a sign that those problems no longer exist! I know of at least two major security holes in the latest version of Moodle and one of them is just as bad as this one I publicized not long ago…and like that vulnerability, it has been discussed in the Moodle forums for months and has received no attention by the devs. If that security issue is not addressed in the next few months, then I may do another “open demonstration” for the public…that seems to be the only way to force action by the Moodle lead dev.

In the meantime, you may want to read this study on Moodle security. Below are some of the more interesting excerpts from the paper.

LMS Moodle has much vulnerability like authentication, availability, confidentiality and integrity attacks. So, it is necessary to develop a mechanism that defends these security flaws of LMS Moodle.

Moodle is only for IT experts. It is complex for normal users to use and more than 66% of them are teachers, researchers and administrators [11]. It is difficult for beginner technicians to install and use Moodle [9], because there are many technical word lists in installation instructions.

It [Moodle] does not support the SSL implementation all over the site.

It stores the user data into cache which can be later used by the attacker to launch the attack for next session.

Brute force attack is possible on Moodle as the attacker may try different keys for several numbers of times.

We have determined following security attacks on Moodle such as session attack; design attack and user log out, session not closed. Session attack which is effective against Moodle is session hijacking. As per the concern of design attacks, Moodle is vulnerable to password prediction and user name prediction. Another, security vulnerability is that when the user logout still the session is not closed. When the user clicks on the back button then he reaches the page which was logged out earlier.

Moodle (modular object oriented dynamic learning environment) is defenseless to password prediction and username prediction.

I thought the last quote above about the modular object oriented design being “defenseless” deserves special attention. If you accept this conclusion, then what that really means is that Moodle is fatally flawed since that is the foundation of Moodle’s design–Modular Object Oriented Dynamic Learning Environment–is Moodle! So, to conclude that entire approach to LMS design is “defenseless” when it comes to security issues is quite damming.

Moodle = 1990′s Technology in 2012

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I thought for sure we were headed for a showdown of Blackboard vs. Moodle. However as time progressed, even months before the RFP went out I could tell that there was a big buzz about Canvas. So much that Moodle fell right off the radar of pretty much everyone.

Source: http://blog.usu.edu/kevin/2011/11/04/getting-ready-with-canvas/

Moodle: 1990′s technology in 2011

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I am a senior this year and getting to know a new program just to check my grades and post papers is ridiculous. Blackboard had become a friend to me; I knew everything about it and how to get to where I needed to be. Moodle is a stranger, one that I care not to know. You may say I am one of those people who does not like change, which is wrong: I love change, just not when it deals with my school work.

There is even a Facebook page called “Moodle Sucks.” If there are enough people to make a Facebook group dedicated to the hatred of Moodle, then something is obviously wrong. If you go to Google and type in “why Moodle sucks,” there will be an endless number of pages to scroll through and hear everyone’s opinion on the matter.

I say bring Blackboard back, we are paying over 30 thousand dollars a year to go to a private college, where is all of that money going? You would think they had a couple extra nickels and dimes to spare in order to keep Blackboard up and running.

Source: http://www.weathervane.emu.edu/radiant/archives/volume-57/2/opinion/blackboard-better-than-moodle/

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This is  becoming an everyday thing now. I’m not sure I’ll be able to keep up with all the colleges, universities, and K12 systems that have decided to dump Moodle and move into the 21st century with their LMS, but whether I post about it or not, the move is happening.

For all you out there who are on Moodle 1.9.x now and are thinking about “upgrading” to 2.x, you should really think about making the move to an LMS that was designed for this century. Canvas is open source and is light years ahead of Moodle in about every way. Upgrading to Moodle 2.x will get you no increased functionality; you will have a much more complicated and slower system; and you will still have one of the most insecure systems on the net. If you’re happy with 1990′s technology, then stay with Moodle, but if you want an open source LMS that was designed for this century, then Canvas is the way to go.

A university in Fredericksburg, VA has begun its move to a new open source, SaaS-based learning management system. Several instructors at the University of Mary Washington have started using Instructure Canvas in place of Blackboard software for their summer courses. The campus, whose Blackboard contract ends in August 2011, will move fully to Canvas in the fall semester.

An LMS committee of faculty and students had been meeting since spring 2010 to evaluate alternatives to Blackboard. The college had been running version 8, which was initially released in early 2008. Finalists under consideration included Blackboard, Desire2Learn, Moodlerooms, and Instructure. In January 2011 each vendor gave a two-hour presentation, in which they were expected to enter a syllabus, upload and manage media, control course and guest access, use built-in and third-party tools, and demonstrate other aspects of the applications. Instructure was announced as the winner in February.

http://campustechnology.com/articles/2011/06/07/u-mary-washington-begins-move-to-instructure-lms.aspx?sc_lang=en

Moodle–1990′s technology in 2011!

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I’m reminded of a line in that commercial…Lost another to Ditech, aka, Moodle lost another to _____________ you fill in the blank

A learning management systems task team composed of 20 faculty, four from each of the colleges, chose Instructure Canvas over Blackboard Learn 9.1 and 10 other systems during the summer.

“We took 12 proposals from various learning management system vendors and narrowed it down to two,” Usha Venkat, director of information and communication technologies, said Sept. 19.

Source: http://www.theranger.org/canvas-program-to-replace-blackboard-vista-1.2639275#.TooNN7K3N2J

Moodle = 1990′s technology in 2011!

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The switch to Canvas represents “a really necessary upgrade to kind of move into the 21st century,” he added.

After analyzing over 1,000 faculty and student survey responses and listening to feedback from focus groups, CIS opted for the Canvas platform. When the committee tested different systems in front of groups of students in the Sharpe Refectory last spring, the response to Canvas was overwhelmingly positive, Kagan said.

In many ways, the new system will be like “a blank canvas,” facilitating the addition of new tools as they emerge as well as having multimedia capabilities, Bergeron said.

Source: http://www.browndailyherald.com/canvas-slated-to-replace-mycourses-1.2637661#.Ton2M7K3N2I

There seems to be a movement in the LMS air these days…a movement from Moodle to just about anything else in the LMS world. Moodle’s 1990′s technology isn’t cutting it anymore. Anyone adopting Moodle these days is literally adopting technology from the last century. Moodle…1990′s technology in 2011!

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Hawaii Department of Education Selects Blackboard Learn 9.1 to Replace Open Source LMS.

The Hawaii Department of Education’s Extended Learning Opportunities and Student Support section has chosen Blackboard Learn™ 9.1 to replace an open source learning management system (LMS) Blackboard Inc. (Nasdaq: BBBB) announced today. The platform provides online courses for over 1,200 students through the Hawaii Virtual Learning Network-ESchool (HVLN-ESchool) and over 500 teachers annually through the HVLN-Project Inspire program.

Prior to moving to Release 9.1, HVLN utilized an open source platform to deliver online content. But the need for additional features, easy customizations, and greater functionality prompted them to explore options for a more robust LMS platform. HLVN also anticipated an increase in student and teacher enrollments, suggesting the need for an enterprise capable implementation.

Read more: http://www.sacbee.com/2011/09/20/3925118/hawaii-department-of-education.html#ixzz1ZN9eFQo1

Simply put, you can’t effectively educate 21st century students using a platform grounded in 1990s technology.

“The evaluation conducted by HVLN was a complete assessment of teaching and learning needs, cost comparisons and product performance,”

Moodle: Serving all your 1990′s learning needs in 2011….no thanks, says Hawaii

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NMSU will be replacing Blackboard CE 8 with Instructure Canvas as its learning management system (LMS) for the Summer 2012 semester.  View announcement here.

In a lengthy evaluation process at NMSU, Canvas received the highest evaluation marks from faculty and students and met the University’s evaluation criteria better than any of the other available options.

According to Steven Leask, senior project analyst for Instructional Innovation & Quality, who managed the evaluation process, the university’s LMS Task Force came to “unanimous agreement on what would be recommended. And there was no second choice.” The task force comprised about 25 faculty, students, learning specialists, and technology administrators from the Las Cruces and Community College campuses.

What set Canvas apart from its competitors, Leask explained, was how different and intuitive the interface was. “Our faculty was overwhelmed by the possibilities,” he said. “If you’ve used Web 2.0 tools, if you’ve used Facebook, Twitter, or those other tools, you could really pick up on it pretty quickly.”

But more than that, he added, it’s a “huge leap forward.”

Source: http://campustechnology.com/Articles/2011/09/07/New-Mexico-State-Signs-with-Instructure.aspx?Page=1

Moodle’s best days may be behind them, but I hear the disciples over in Moodleland are still partying like it’s 1999…and their LMS reflects it

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After nearly 12 years of using Blackboard’s WebCT to run online components of the classroom, the U will be switching to a new online program, Instructure’s Canvas, which will be fully adopted in the summer of 2012.

“Comparing Canvas to Blackboard would be like comparing an iPhone to a cellphone made in 1998,” McGhie said.

If Blackboard is a 1998 cellphone, then that makes Moodle about the equivalent of a Model 28 teletypewriter

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It shouldn’t surprise anyone that Moodle with its outdated 1990′s technology didn’t even make the short list by the evaluation committee at Auburn. I applaud their decision to adopt a true “web 2.0″ platform reflecting the technology of this decade.

Below are some highlights from the full article here: http://campustechnology.com/Articles/2011/07/14/Auburn-U-Moves-to-Open-Source-Canvas-LMS.aspx?

Auburn University, with about 25,000 students, has decided to move off of Blackboard Vista and onto Instructure Canvas following a multi-months evaluation process.

The LMS evaluation was done by a working group composed of IT people and faculty members. Along with Canvas and Blackboard Learn 9.1, other contenders included Moodle, Sakai, and Desire2Learn. The short-list consisted of only two products: Canvas and Desire2Learn.

“From an instructor standpoint loading material and organizing is not only easy, but can actually be fun,” Hahn said. “The simple drag and drop from your desktop into the file menu structure of Canvas is light-years ahead of others. Several faculty from my area have pointed out organizing and reorganizing is no longer complex and cumbersome like it was in the past.  If they wish to move items around they are able to, quickly and on the fly.”

The team also liked the service’s notification system. “Each party can pick how they want to receive course notifications. From e-mail, Face-book, Twitter, SMS, and more,” Hahn said.

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