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UNM might erase your computer files

by SCOTT ALBRIGHT, C&J 271

Hackers beware! Computer users are defending against viruses, Trojans and worms across the country with the help of the National Cyber Security Alliance.

The group declared October as national cyber security month.

In conjunction with the declaration UNM held educational presentations and free computer virus scans as part of UNM's Computer Security Day on Wednesday. A slide show was given providing UNM staff and students with educational material regarding the protection and security of university and personal computers.

"One out of seven of us will be infected this year," said Rosemary Barrett, technical support analyst for UNM's Information Technology Services.

Barrett spoke for the first part of the 1 p.m. presentation in the SUB ballroom. She provided information on up-dates for virus protection and gave advice on how often to change the password on a users computer.

"The bottom line is, how often do you change your password," Barrett said. "As often as you change your toothbrush."

She said that users should change their passwords every 30-60 days, but at least once a semester.

"It's one more layer of protection," Barrett said. "One more step someone has to take to jump through the security."

Barrett gave definitions for the terms virus, worms, Trojans and Malware (malicious software). She said viruses attach to something like a CD or USB drive and get into a computer in order to do something negative. She said the different mediums that viruses could attach to made it easier for them to spread.

Barrett said hackers have gone as far as creating viruses that are programmed to teach people how to make Trojans. She said Trojans are benign, are not virus-like and don't replicate like worms, but can be more destructive.

Barrett said hackers use Spyware and Adware as malicious software that exploit computers vulnerabilities. She said Spyware tracks users web browsing habits from 'crumbs' that cookies leave, and then use Adware to redirect them to other sites.

Jeff Gassaway, ITS Security Administrator, spoke for the second half of the presentation and opened up the room for discussion. He talked about gauging e-mail and social engineering.

"Social engineering is when people trick you into giving up information," Gassaway said.

He said to be wary of sites that require users to click buttons they are unsure of.

Gassaway said UNM gauges the email coming through the system to prevent users from getting spam. He said individuals could set up their email program to set the threshold higher to manage different kinds of spam.

Richard Mertz, UNM legal counsel, spoke for the last part of the presentation on copyright infringement.

"Basically the way it works here at UNM is that content owners go looking for their material on file sharing programs. They find the IP address of the user who has the material and give it to ITS and ask us to remove it from the computer," Mertz said.

"We're getting about 7 notices a day where they're identifying copyrighted stuff. Then we're required to remove it," Mertz said.

He said students, faculty and staff are held liable for copyright infringement, not UNM. He said a fine of up to $150,000 per infringement could be charged to violators.

"The bottom line is they think it hurts their sales," Mertz said.

He said record companies, movie companies and computer software companies have improved technology to find file sharing abusers, but said educating violators about the law was preferable to legal action.

Presentations by the FBI and Sandia National Laboratories were also given throughout the day. A raffle was held to win a DELL computer and cookies and drinks were available at the sub-ballroom.

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