CIS News: January 2004

Year of the Worm

IT Security Memo from Brown's Director of IT Security, Connie Sadler:
E-mail has never been a totally secure method of transmitting information, and every day this becomes more obvious to us all. We receive e-mail from unknown senders. We receive e-mail from senders who "appear" to be someone we know, but the email was actually "spoofed". We receive strange attachments from what appear to be reliable sources.

The possible scenarios go on and on. The truth is: "hackers" and "spammers" are more organized than ever. They actually operate as development teams! We need to be very careful to confirm the authenticity of any sender of an attachment - even if we think we know the sender. If we weren't expecting anything, we shouldn't open the file until we check with the sender to see if the attachment is genuine. This may seem extreme, but it's really the only way to fully protect yourself. An attachment can also contain executable content while "appearing" to be a harmless text file.

If in doubt about any e-mail you receive, contact your DCC, the sender of the message, or the Help Desk (3-HELP) before you take a chance. The "payloads" associated with these viruses and worms will only get worse. We fully expect that on a routine basis, your files could all be erased, or your keystrokes could be captured for months at a time, to be "played back" to someone else, who may or may not be known to you. Please be safe in 2004, which has been labeled by some experts as the "Year of the Worm".

New for Semester 2

• CIS has enhanced the security services in the Residence Halls in an effort to improve their network reliability. The new security scanning should have no impact on returning dorm users if their anti-virus software and operating systems are up-to-date and kept current. Computers that do not have the most recent security updates, however, may need to reactivate a connection to campus through the myConnection service. This could include installing automatic updates as part of this process. As this can be time-consuming, CIS recommends that this be done as early as possible, before schedules get hectic.
  » For assistance with setting automatic system updates, see: www.brown.edu/cis/doc/autoupdate.html.
  » To install anti-virus scanning software, with automatic update features, see: software.brown.edu/dist/type-antivirus.html

• As part of security improvements, SMTP from the dorms has been blocked. This change will prevent incidents of compromised dorm machines from clogging the Brown network with heavy loads of spam. Those running SMTP servers will need to route them through mail-relay.brown.edu. For help with this, please contact the Help Desk.
  

• Printer release stations are being introduced in the public computing clusters. CIS has introduced these stations in an effort to reduce paper and toner expenses related to unclaimed print jobs. The public printer queues have seen a continuing increase in usage over the last few years, with a great deal of waste. The addition of the print release stations, beginning with the CIT then later in the other clusters, is the first step in a move toward a print quota system. Other universities who have introduced such stations have reported almost immediate decreases in printer output of around 25%. More details about this service change and how to use the stations can be found in the cluster printing FAQ.

Winter Computer Education Session starts 1/27

The Computer Education winter session is now open for registration. Class offerings range from basic computing to working with presentation, graphic, database and web publishing software. Classes begin January 27. They are held Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays in CIT269 and are generally 90 minutes in length. Visit the Computer Education site for a complete list of classes.

CIS begins move to Davol Square

On Monday, January 12, around 50 CIS employees reported for work in their new quarters at Davol Square. The majority of the Administrative systems groups are now located in the Davol Square business park at Eddy and Point streets. These include the Applications Development and Administrative Systems Technology staff as well as administrative support and CIS's Vice President, Ellen Waite-Franzen.

Staff and services key to supporting the Brown academic community will remain in the CIT: the Instructional Technology Group and Computer Education on the second level, the Help Desk, Service & Repair and dispatch printing on the first, and computer operations in the lower level. The Scholarly Technology Group (STG) will continue to be located in the Graduate Center.

Computer Science (CS) expansion needs have prompted the move from the CIT building, which has been CIS's central home for 15 years. "CIS Central" will shift to the Jewelry District once the CS department expands its classroom and office space (now on the 4th and 5th floors) to eventually fill the 3rd floor of the CIT as well. As of January 12, CS will occupy the north half of the 3rd floor, while Network Technology, Systems & Services,   IT Security and Telecommunications temporarily work in the south half. In June, those CIS staff members will also move to Davol Square.

Note that with Telecomm's move, basic telephone questions can be answered at the Help Desk off the CIT lobby or via email or phone.

Latest version of Photoshop 7 for Windows

Several new titles or updates to existing products are now available, including Photoshop 7 for Windows. These can be installed from Brown's software download page where you will find product information as well as installation instructions.

Windows: Photoshop 7, Novell Netware Client 4.9, Secure Shell (ssh) 3.2.9 and Tecplot 10

Macintosh: Symantec AntiVirus 9

Please notify the Help Desk if you have any problems with these installers.

Register now for Faculty Technology Workshops

The Instructional Technology Group will offer workshops in January for faculty on using technology in the classroom. For details on the "Teaching in the Digital Age" workshops and to register online, visit the ITG website. Workshops begin Tuesday, January 20 and run until the 26th.

Topics include:

• WebCT - basics and advanced features
• Online Grading - using WebCT’s gradebook
• PowerPoint - basics and advanced features
• Courses Reserves - preview the Library’s new electronic course reserves system
• Audio - incorporating music and spoken word into your course content
• Videoconferencing - bringing experts into your classroom

For more information, please contact the Instructional Technology Group:
Stephanie Birdsall | Humanities and Foreign Languagues/Literatures | 863-7299
Siobhan Ross | Math & Sciences | 863-7395
Michelle Thacher | Social Sciences | 863-7342

Teaching in the Digital Age Faculty Showcase

CIS's Instructional Technology Group and the University Library are sponsoring a January 15 workshop for faculty, focused on incorporating technology into teaching at Brown.

The day-long event includes two "Tales from the Trenches," conversations about topics such as e-resources, copyright and plagiarism issues, WebCT, as well as demonstrations of several examples of teaching with texts, images and multimedia.

View details and/or register now for the Teaching in the Digital Age Faculty Showcase.