Tuesday, January 20, 2004

by Greg Leiserson
News Editor

As a result of the “continuous stream” of viruses and worms that
attacked the Swarthmore network last fall, ITS has instituted a range
of new policies in an attempt to maintain a high level of network
security while at the same time making the process less staff intensive
and easier to use than the process used at the beginning of the fall
semester, according to Mark Dumic, manager of networking, systems and
telecommunications.

Dumic commented that “while ITS was able to install virus protection
last fall, it required an extended manual process with staff working
overtime for several weeks. And the severity of the attacks underway
required us to disconnect the student network while we worked with
students to get current virus protection installed.”

During the winter break, ITS purchased a new computer management
system, Campus Manager, to replace the old Net Reg system, which will
serve a similar function but in a more secure fashion. When computers
are first connected to the network they are limited to only a special
registration network and while there cannot affect the rest of the
computers already on the regular network. During the period in which
computers are limited to the registration network they will be able to
download virus software and other files made available by ITS.

Campus Manager also facilitates tracking a network address to the
individual using the computer and temporarily disabling or re-enabling
a computer’s network access. In the past these processes were either
staff intensive or could be done by only a small number of ITS
personnel with the appropriate level of access.

ITS temporarily disabled network access for computers approximately
20
times last semester as a result of viruses and worms generating high
levels of network traffic, but had to do so manually. With the new
Campus Manager system and a program called Nessus, ITS will be able to
scan the network for vulnerabilities and automatically disable affected
computers. Current plans are to use Nessus to scan the network twice a
semester, most likely immediately after breaks.

Although many students returning to campus were surprised by the
length
of the form that dictated acceptable use guidelines for the campus
network, students implicitly agreed to the guidelines by using the
network in previous semesters. According to Dumic, “notification of
copyright violations under the DMCA has continued to grow and their
processing requires a significant amount of College staff resources” so
“it’s now considered best practice in higher education to have
documentation that individual users have read and agreed to the
acceptable use policy.” He also said that the on-line agreement to the
policy is part of a larger awareness campaign to ensure that students
are aware of the legal risks they face from illegal uses of copyrighted
material.

Users of Windows XP encountered one of the first problems with the
new
registration system when they attempted to download the virus software
provided and were unable to install it because of a missing component.
Students were able to complete the registration process even without
the new virus software, but a corrected version is available from ITS
and dorm techs, and will soon be available on the netreg website, which
students should obtain to complete the software updates.

The final new element of the security changes is the ePolicy
Orchestrator agent which is installed on computers with the latest
version of Network Associates anti-virus software. The agent will allow
ITS to remotely determine which set of virus definitions is running on
individual computers so that ITS will be able to “within
seconds…instruct all vulnerable computers to go out to the network
and obtain the latest update [that] offers protection against [a new]
virus or worm.”

Said Dumic, “in the past, we had to notify users to manually load
the
new anti-virus update or wait, sometimes up to a week, for the
automatic updating to occur.” ITS has already used ePolicy to push out
an update to disable the W32.Beagle.A@mm virus released on Monday.

While many returning students found the changes frustrating and
complained vocally, it seemed that most student computers were
registered and on the network more quickly than in the fall. A
significant fraction of the delays were caused simply because students
could not remember their network passwords and therefore could not
complete the registration process.

*****

by Jonathan Ference
Living & Arts Editor

Students paying a visit to Worth Health Center during the next few
days
may notice that the reception and waiting areas seem somewhat brighter,
cleaner, and fresher. They may not be able to pin the cause for this
feeling, but a faint lingering smell may yield a clue. During Winter
Break, all of Worth’s walls were painted, and new carpet was laid down
in the reception area. This required major moving of supplies and
equipment, and though Worth sent a Reserved-Students e-mail on Saturday
to keep the campus apprised of potential delays, by 11 AM on Monday,
January 19th, things were back to normal.

Eileen Stasiunas, a member of Worth’s staff, explained that the work
done over Winter Break will be continued in the summer, as the rest of
the building still needs to receive new carpet. As she explained and as
the e-mail noted, the work necessitated packing most of the Health
Center’s supplies into boxes.

As of Monday, though, the Cold Clinic’s medications available for
students were back in their places in the revitalized Worth lobby. This
is only a slight delay from the re-opening time of Sunday noon
published in the pre-break schedule. Full psychological
services-excepting emergencies-will not be available until Tuesday.
This is the same date and time as published in the original schedule.

*****

* Senator John Kerry of Massachusetts won a surprise victory in the
Iowa caucus, leaving Representative Dick Gephardt in the dust of the
Democratic presidential race. Senator John Edwards was in second place
and Howard Dean in third, shaking up the national standings even
further. Kerry won 38 percent, Edwards 32, and Gephardt 11. Retired
general Wesley Clark and Senator Joe Lieberman both skipped the Iowa
caucus to focus on the New Hampshire primary.

* All over the country on Monday, people celebrated the legacy of
the
late Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. In Atlanta, Georgia, Martin Luther
King III spoke at Ebenezer Baptist Church, where his father used to
preach, bringing up topics like the war in Iraq. Mayor Shirley Franklin
and Coretta Scott King also gave speeches. Franklin referred to
President Bush’s recent highly protested visit, saying, “Perhaps some
prefer to honor the dreamer while ignoring or fighting the dream.” In
other cities, people remembered King by running volunteer campaigns or
holding affirmative action rallies.

* Helmut Fricher of Bavaria, Germany, has created a new beer that he
says defies age. By strengthening the immune system, he says, it unites
body and soul with spirulina algae and flavonoid. However, according to
Germany’s Beer Purity Regulation, the world’s oldest law, beer may only
contain hops, barley, yeast, and water. Fricher is expected to rename
his product.

*****

Scott Arboretum Lunchtime Lecture
Kohlberg, Scheuer Room, 12:00 p.m.

Model United Nations Meeting
Parrish Parlors, 7:30 p.m.

*****

SPORTS UPDATE

Today:
There are no contests scheduled for today.

Tomorrow:
Swimming hosts Albright, 6:00 p.m.
Men’s Basketball hosts Muhlenberg, 8:00 p.m.

*****

QUOTE OF THE DAY

“It takes courage to grow up and become who you really are.”
–e.e. cummings

*****

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