People say if your Internet connection is "always on", like DSL or cable, then your computer is vulnerable to hacking. I live in a college dorm which has Internet connection (thru LAN, I suppose), does this count as "always on" and thus as vulnerable?

It all depends on the College, if they have Firewalls, Virus scans etc... if they have then ur probably okay... Neo

"always on" connections such as dsl/adsl/cable are no more vulnerable than a dialup connection. what people mean is that always on connection's are alot more vulnerable to hackers because 1) they're always on and 2) they have a much higher bandwidth than a dialup connection. also, the ip of the connection never changes, so you don't have to worry bout getting the ip all the time :|

what i mean is they're more of a target than dialup connections, not more vulnerable!

There is no reason for an hacker to break into a slow 28Kbps computer!!! However a computer connected to cablemodem may be used to launch attack to network such yahoo.ebay,.. Then yes they are more a target...