USU promotes security during week-long event
In accordance with National Security Week, Information Technology Services is asking Utah State University to focus on security.
Last Friday, members of the USU Help Desk urged users to immunize their computers from viruses. Monday is “Protect Your Desktop” Day, Wednesday is “Be an ‘Internet Skeptic’ Day, an Information Technology security panel discussion will be held Thursday, and Friday is “Identity Security” Day. In addition, the USU Help Desk will be holding workshops on Thursday and Friday focusing on desktop security. These workshops will continue to be offered throughout the semester.
“It’s not about [Information Technology] Services,” said Bob Bayn, associate director of network and computing services. “This affects the whole campus.”
“Desktop security involves virus checking and keeping your system up to date,” he said. “There are also issues of physical security.”
If, for example, an individual left his or her computer on, another person could sit down and do a variety of mischief, from sending out bogus e-mail to downloading unwanted programs.
Stephen Funk, supervisor of the Help Desk, said any computer user connecting to USU’s network is entitled to a free license for McAfee VirusScan. And, he said, everyone should both update their DAT files from McAfee and update their copy of Windows regularly.
McAfee can be configured to update weekly, Bayn said. He said he also recommends it be scheduled to scan disks during a time when the computer is not in use, such as after work hours or at lunch.
“You don’t want a virus because it can impact performance of your computer and may interfere with what you are trying to do,” he said. “It may even delete files or may install hidden functions that could steal passwords, financial information, and credit card numbers or identification information. And, it’s embarrassing to be detected as the distributor of a virus.”
Bayn said, “Being an Internet skeptic means we need to try and get Internet users to some happy mid-point between gullible and paranoid – the midpoint is a skeptic.”
Ben Campbell, Help Desk consultant and senior in computer engineering, said, “Marketing companies are extremely interested in where people are going on the Web – it’s an extremely lucrative business if they can get a hold of your browsing habits for free.”
Campbell said that anytime a popup comes up, and a user clicks on it, it could do a number of things including resetting your home page or search engine, start tracking cookies, or even reroute the http and https so they can completely track, even over secure sites.
“This is the case whether you click yes, no, OK, cancel, or anything else on the popup,” he said. “The best thing to do is to click the ‘x’ at the top or to push control plus alt delete.”
In addition, Campbell warned against “free” downloads such as KaZaA, Weatherbug, Gator, or Precision Time. “The reason it is free is because marketing companies want your browsing habits, so they pay the money for your
download.”
“Nothing is free,” Bayn said. “Anything offered to you is not ‘free.’ If something is offered to you for nothing, they will at least get contact information from you and you might end up on a spam list.”
Campbell said computers come into the Help Desk frequently that are so bogged down with this Spyware, that “you can’t even open Word, or when you open Internet Explorer and you have the home page set as nothing, you still come up with five popups.”
Anyone interested in learning more about security or who have questions or concerns are encouraged to contact the Help Desk at 797-4358, helpdesk@usu.edu, or helpdesk.usu.edu.
-dhegsted@cc.usu.edu