E-mail this pageCampus Response To Virus Threats
As the threat of infection from a multitude of viruses, worms, and other exploits is increasing, so is our campus' response to such issues. Computing & Media Services and Network Operations have adopted the following strategies:
- Staff regularly monitor reliable sources of information about current threats.
- The campus firewall's configuration is adjusted as new threats are documented to minimize or eliminate the impact of certain exploits.
- Traffic on the academic portion of the network (which serves campus offices, labs, and classrooms) is kept separate from traffic on the residence hall portion of the network. Traffic on wireless segments and in certain other areas, is also separated from the rest.
- A mail "gateway" is used to intercept known viruses before they reach individual mailboxes. This gateway has prevented as many as 8,000+ infected mail messages per day from reaching our users.
- Desktop virus software, installed on campus machines, is updated automatically to be sure such software can recognize and intercept the latest viruses.
- A campus update server is in place to keep campus machines at current, critical patch levels. A "patch" is a fix to a piece of software, be it an operating system like Windows or an application like Outlook. Such patches are often designed to fix a "whole" or weakness in the software that allows a virus to get in.