Computing Security
...On-Campus
The SOU Information Technology (IT) department offers a variety of security services to protect University electronic data, computers and networks.
Anti-Virus & Anti-Spyware
Viruses and spyware are the two greatest security risks for computers, networks and electronic data. SOU IT provides multi-layered anti-virus and anti-spyware services.
- The SOU Barracuda Spam Firewall scans email messages, discarding any found to have a virus.
- The SOU IT network performance monitoring systems look for suspicious activity that identifies an infected computer, disabling the computer's network access pending removal of the virus.
- SOU file servers run McAfee NetShield for Netware anti-virus software to scan files for viruses.
- Every desktop computer has McAfee Anti-Virus software; McAfee VirusScan Enterprise on Microsoft Windows computers and McAfee VirusScan for Mac on Macintosh computers. On a daily basis the software checks in with an on-campus update server for the latest virus definition files. The update process happens automatically without the need for you to logout or reboot.
Spyware can also be an annoyance and a productivity killer since its presence dramatically slows down your computer. The McAfee software provides protection from most types of spyware. In addition, since most spyware takes advantage of security exploits in Microsoft Internet Explorer, we provide Mozilla Firefox as a safe browsing alternative.
Spam Protection
The SOU IT Barracuda Spam Firewall scans all incoming email to filter out suspected spam messages in addition to scanning for viruses. Since most new viruses come through email this stops them before they even get into your mailbox. In addition to viruses, spam email often uses "phishing" or other techniques to try and lure an unsuspecting reader into divulging personal information. The Spam Firewall is effective in blocking over 90% of these.
Windows Update
Most security threats take advantage of flaws and bugs in software. Windows and Internet Explorer have been the hardest hit in this regard. Microsoft has responded by making patches readily available to fix these flaws as they are discovered. In order to provide the most timely delivery of these patches to Windows computers on campus we have setup a Windows Update Server. Every Windows computer on campus is setup to get security patches directly from our Windows Update Server. This assures that your computer will always be up to date and patched against the latest exploits as soon the patches become available.
Campus Firewall
Last but not least we have a sophisticated firewall between the campus network and the Internet. This prevents all direct exploits against campus computers. Essentially campus computers are not visible from the Internet except for those servers that must be (Web Server, Mail Server etc.) and then these are only accessible for their intended purpose. A firewall by itself is not enough to ensure complete network security but it certainly is an essential part in the overall picture.
