Information Services Newsletter
Has your network access stopped?

Has your network access stopped? Can you no longer access the Internet or email from your office PC? Then you may have been blocked by ISD. ISD are currently blocking network access to PCs that are infected with viruses and worms. Any infected PCs discovered by ISD's monitoring program will have its network access blocked until the PC has been cleaned. PCs that are running music-sharing software such as Kazaa will be blocked until the application is removed.

These viruses access the PCs via vulnerabilities in the Windows operating system. To prevent your PC from being infected:

• the operating system should be patched on a regular basis. The latest versions of Windows can be configured to automatically download and update patches for the operating system,
• install and keep up to date an anti-virus program. Anti-virus software can be configured to automatically update its definition files.

Faculty staff should contact their faculty IT technician if assistance is required.

Users with laptop PCs should pay particular attention to patching their laptops and keeping anti-virus software up to date. The latest viruses were introduced into the University infrastructure by laptops that were infected at home and then used on campus.

Harry Young