Sidestepping a meltdown
Many students arrived on campus this fall with more than a trunk load of clothes, posters, DVDs, computer equipment and other necessities.
Tucked away deep inside their hard drives were some nasty-sounding critters, among them Welchia, Blaster and the Nachia worm. These computer viruses wreaked havoc at many college campuses as students returned for fall term.
Vanderbilt University found infections in the computers of roughly one-fourth of its 5,000 students. Stunned technicians shut off connections to nearly 1,200 computers they determined were infected, then gradually restored service over the next several days after each machine was cleaned.
Oberlin College in Ohio, which found infections in nine out of every 10 computers running Windows software, threatened to fine students $25 for spreading a virus.
John Bucher, director of information technology at Oberlin, told the Associated Press. “When you're drowning, you try to do something quick. We're really stressed by this whole thing.”
Richard Nelson, director of computing & information services at Furman, heard these and other university horror stories. But he and his staff were not sure what to expect when freshmen began to arrive in September.
But when 90 percent of the computers owned by freshmen, who arrived a week before most upperclassmen, were either compromised or did not have the latest virus protection software, Nelson and his group began scrambling to put together a plan to sidestep a virus outbreak.
On September 5, the university's residential network was shut down while C&IS personnel scanned approximately 1,700 computers for viruses. After checking for and eliminating viruses, the staff loaded the computers with the latest anti-virus software and security updates and configured their systems to alert users when a security update is needed.
Between 30 and 40 percent of the computers owned by sophomores, juniors and seniors proved to have some kind of virus. For some computers, screening and updating took as much as two hours.
“We had to assume that all the computers were infected,” says Nelson, adding that he hopes students, faculty and staff will henceforth police themselves by regularly running a virus scan and installing security updates as warranted.
Quick planning and hard work saved Furman from network gridlock this time. But Nelson is holding his breath, waiting for the next big virus outbreak
“It's like being a volunteer fireman,” he says. “You can anticipate and try to be prepared, but you don't know what you're dealing with until it actually happens.”
Inside Furman is published monthly during the school year by the Furman University Department of Marketing and Public Relations. For story ideas, e-mail John Roberts, editor.
