Virus Strain Plagues College Computers

Author: Thomas Drescher

Large-scale efforts to salvage the Middlebury College network from a virus were complicated last week by the absence of a crucial member of the Library and Information Services and Computer Connection team. In the midst of the virtual virus attack, Senior Computing Specialist Nate Burt was "out sick (with a virus that attacks humans)."

Library and Information Services (LIS), Outreach and Customer Service (OCS) and Computer Connection have been working diligently with the rest of the college community to contain and eliminate viruses on the network and in individual computers around campus and to prevent further spreading of these virtual infections.

According to Burt, Middlebury's network has been plagued by the W32.Welchia.Worm - commonly known as the Blaster Worm. "From a network standpoint, the worm caused our firewall to crash a number of times within a two-day period. When the firewall was down, this prevented off-campus internet connectivity," he said.

"As a result of virus-related problems with the network," said Tom Cutter, director of systems and network services at LIS, "individual computers have been running slowly and spontaneously rebooting."

Viruses like the Blaster Worm have been infecting individual systems and disrupting software and network connections.

A significant effort is underway to solve virus-related problems on campus. "Numerous members of the community have worked at updating their anti-virus software and installing Windows updates," said Cutter. "Many have encountered problems, though, in getting older anti-virus software removed, new software installed and patches applied."

The Virus Tools CD, distributed recently by OCS to commons staff members, has been circulating among the students. Phil Kehl '06 complained that the disk's software was "not user-friendly."

Other students have voiced similar criticisms. A number of Hepburn residents said that instructions for installing the patch were unclear, and those who did manage to install it are, in some cases, still dealing with virus issues. Welcker Taylor '06 said that installation was "somewhat confusing," but acknowledged that the disk was readily available and that it solved his virus problem.

Burt and Cutter both emphasize the importance of taking precautions to prevent virus infections. "Keep your own machines patched for the latest vulnerabilities from the operating system level," suggested Burt, "and have anti-virus software installed and up to date at all times."

Burt explained that any network using Microsoft programs is susceptible to these latest viruses, not to mention others. For this reason, network precautions like firewalls need to be in place and configured properly to prevent infection. "We had some initial issues with the firewall crashing, but these have been resolved with the appropriate filters on network traffic," said Burt. "We run the corporate edition of Symantec anti-virus and push virus definition updates to all the clients that have this installed. We scan all incoming e-mail for viruses and block attachments that are used to transmit these viruses. We also have a firewall that blocks the ports commonly used for these attacks from the Internet."

College employees have been going to great lengths to rid the campus of computer viruses. "OCS has worked with numerous people in developing and distributing the Virus Tools CD to all of the commons for use in the dorms," said Cutter.

"We are also contacting students, faculty and staff with machines known to be infected with viruses, asking them to assist in the cleanup process. We have numerous staff and student workers working on cleaning up and protecting computers owned by students and college-owned machines."

According to Burt and Cutter, every effort is made to prevent virus infections from a network standpoint, but in order for everything to run smoothly, individuals in the College community need to protect their own computers.

Said Dean of Library and Information Services Barbara Doyle-Wilch: "As members of the Middlebury community, we are all responsible for doing what we can - like cleaning up our computers and installing the recommended anti-virus software - to ensure a more reliable network for the community."

An Associated Press article released on Sept. 5, 2003, explained briefly the inherent burden associated with maintaining a college network: "Unlike managers in corporations, college officials provide Internet connections for student computers over which they have little direct control. These high-speed networks are powerful, widely distributed across campuses and purposely left open to help in the sharing of data."

"There are many obvious benefits, a certain inherent risk, and a dose of responsibility we all need to take when connecting to a network," said Tom Cutter.