Viruses prompt change in IU policy

It'll make you sick.\nAn epidemic of colossal proportion is creeping its way onto college campuses and infecting households and businesses across America.\nThe victims? Computers.\nContagious, destructive computer viruses such as SoBig, Nachi and Blaster worms are wreaking havoc on computers at IU and other major universities. The release of these viruses at the beginning of the school year is creating problems for college students at many major universities, including IU-Bloomington, the University of Wisconsin-Madison and Penn State University.\nTom Davis, IU information technology security officer, said many students could be the cause of problems on the IU network.\n"If students' computers were infected with a virus prior to arriving at IU and/or were not protected with up-to-date anti-virus software, they can introduce or spread viruses onto the University network," Davis said.\nTo combat this problem, IU is requiring all students living in the residence halls and greek houses to register their computers. During the registration process, the computer is scanned for vulnerabilities to the Blaster worm. If a vulnerability is found, the user must install patches before the computer is allowed to connect to the network.\n"Certain viruses and worms can cause a significant degradation of network performance," Davis said. "For example, a worm by its nature attempts to 'worm' its way through the network to attack other vulnerable computers. If it attempts this at a rapid rate, it can flood the network and hinder legitimate network traffic."\nComputers connected to large networks such as IU's are more susceptible to computer viruses than individual personal computers. Sophomore Joanna Szablewski's computer was infected with the Blaster worm this summer in Naperville, Ill.\n"The internet was shut off for three days. We just had to wait," Szablewski said. "It made my life difficult because I usually use AIM and I couldn't."\nWide Open West, Szablewski's broadband internet provider, repaired the problem.\nViruses, which are created by software developers, are usually hidden within another program that copies itself and inserts them into other programs or files. Viruses usually perform malicious actions such as destroying data.\nViruses are most commonly transmitted by e-mail, internet relay chat such as Instant Messenger and peer file-sharing programs such as KaZaA, Morpheus and Scour.\nLike viruses, worms are also programs that replicate themselves, usually to other computer systems via network connections. Unlike viruses, worms exist as separate entities; they do not attach to programs or files.\nIU holds a site license from Symantec Antivirus, which allows students, faculty and staff to access virus protection on IU Ware. Many other universities have not been able to secure funding for a site license for anti-virus products.\n"Because of our ability to continue our agreement with Symantec for their AntiVirus products, we at least have something to offer our users to help them prevent virus infections on their computers," Davis said.\nIU Information Technology advises students to not open e-mail from people they don't know, weren't expecting or aren't mentioned. Students should obtain protection from Symantec Antivirus or Norton AntiVirus software and update it regularly. \n"It is best to schedule the anti-virus software to download new virus patterns daily," Davis said.\nIU is not the only university encountering problems with viruses. John D. Wiley, chancellor of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, declared a crisis situation at the school Aug. 19 when 7,000 people on its list mail system received a virus. \nWithin 20 minutes, the university had obtained a patch from Norton Antivirus. The University disconnected its modem pool for 24 hours to prevent the virus from spreading.\nUniversity of Wisconsin Division of Information Technology Communications Director Brian Rust said the release of viruses at the beginning of the academic school year is no accident.\n"It was no coincidence that the person who created the viruses decided to release them now," Rust said. \nThe university offered downloadable patches and free CDs for students at UW-Madison to repair their computers. The school also required students to remove infected computers from the network system immediately. \nFor more information, see the Information Technology Security Office's "How To Prevent Against Viruses" document at www.itso.iu.edu/howto/virus.epl.\n-- Contact staff writer Alli Stolper at astolper@indiana.edu.