The Clackamas Print
Wednesday, November 29,1995
OpMon/Eegture
continued from page 2
Avoiding the threat Questioning the government
of computer viruses
Brendon Neal
Section Editor
Computer viruses can de
stroy months of student work
and cost thousands of tax-payer
dollars in software and hard
ware.
According to “Computer
Viruses: An Introduction,” a
handout being given out by the
Computer Lab to people with a
virus on their home computers,
there are a couple of miscon
ceptions about viruses. A virus
can’t move from one type of
computer to another, such as
from an IBM-compatible to a
Macintosh computer.
Viruses
don’t generate
themselves
they/are pro
grams made by
a •
person.
However, they
appear to come
out of nowhere
because they
aren’t inten
tionally copied
to a disk.
The other
wrong belief is that all viruses
are harmful. Sometimes, al
though rarely, they just cause
minor damage as a side effect
of some other larger activity.
Viruses occur in open sys
tems such as the ones at the col
lege. Home users can also get
viruses, especially if they use
open systems as well.
There are, however, ways to
lessen the chances of “catching”
a virus and ways of minimiz
ing damage if you do get one.
No one anti-virus program
can find all viruses because they
vary so greatly in design that
there is no exact pattern that can
be detected. However, many are
variations of standard ones. Be
cause thousands of new viruses
come out every month, com
puter owners need to keep their
anti-virus programs updated.
Usually, companies or design
ers will have bulletin boards or
phone numbers where updates
can be downloaded or ordered
for free or for a small fee.
Viruses are usually caught
from pirated or non-copyrighted
materials. A way to avoid vi
ruses is to not download pro
grams from bulletin boards. Ei
ther intentionally or not, cus
tomers of these boards can up
load infected programs to the
board. With the thousands of
programs on the boards, it is
nearly impossible for the people
running them to keep track of
all programs and Check them for
viruses. Often programs seem to
accomplish what they are sup
posed to, and even well-known
programs can be infected by the
person that puts the program
on the Bulletin Boards. Then
when you put the program on
your computer, your computer
receives the virus along with the
main program. Instead of get
ting them from boards, get soft
ware from the original author
whenever possible. This way
you can verify to some degree
that the program doesn’t have
a virus and can
know who put
the virus on if
there is one.
M a k i n g
backups
of
your hard drive
and diskettes is
very impor
tant. Getting a
tape drive for
your computer
allows you to
back-up your
drive whenever you wish with
out having to store dozens of
diskettes. If you get a virus that
damages all or part of your hard
drive you can use the backups
to retrieve the information that
was on it as of the last backup.
How often you should backup
your computer depends upon
how often you change/use your
computer. Once a month is con
sidered a good idea. This also
protects against hardware fail
ures that do occur.
Avoid using boot disks un
less you have no hard drive. The
common way viruses get put on
a computer is from bootup disks.
Keep your disks write-pro
tected (tab on back of disk in the
upright position) except when
you are copying information
onto the disk. This way viruses
can’t be spread onto your disk
from other disks or hard drives.
Another way to find out if
your computer has a virus is to
look for “strange behavior.” If
any of the following occurs, you
should get your computer
checked: take longer than nor
mal to load programs, showing
unusual error messages,
memory size increasing or de
creasing, disk lights staying on
longer than they used to and
files that disappear for no rea
son. Any of these can be signs
of viruses.
Pwjfiei 2112
Be one of A© firsi
siwdenis we
will give a free calling card £o.
‘Separate Billing
‘Excellent Rates/ No deposit
‘No Monthly Fee
‘No Surcharge
‘Referral Bonuses
Sponsored by the
P- Stop by the
Student Government office,
or call (503jg5^44W-~ ~ —
Has the confusion in the
Capitol clouded the minds of the
people representing us, represent
ing our country?
Our Federal government only
shut down for a short period of
time, but can we be sure that it
won’t happen again? The shut
down happened because the gov
ernment fiscal year had ended and
Congress hadn’t yet approved
spending plans for next year. In
the past, Congress has passed a
continuing resolution to pay the
bills for a few weeks until the real
budget had been worked out. But
Congress and Clinton couldn’t
agree on even that because each
saw the vote as a preview of the
battle over the seven-year plan.
Why can’t they make up their
minds? We have voted people
into position to represent us in de
cisions concerning our country,
but Congress has been over
whelmed with making more
money and has forgotten what
they are there for in the first place.
The threat that our country
can be shut down because Con
gress can’t quit arguing, shows us
that they have either taken upon
themselves too many appropria
tions bills that need to be passed,
or they don’t have the most im
portant thing on their minds - our
country.
Mail-in ballots are due Dec.
1, for the primary elections to fill
Packwood’s seat. We must take
it upon ourselves to keep our
Congress in check. We should
contact them and let them know
what we think. Let’s make it loud
and clear what we want.
Drafting an Electronic
Information Resource Policy
The following document is the college’s electronic informa
the college's Electronic Informa tion resources
tion Resource Policy draft as of Authorized Accounts: Username/
password pairs or similar codes
Nov. 13 1995.
This isn’t the final draft. The or code devices such as copy cards
document has been going through that allow a person access to an
a review process since April 1995. EIR.
ASG,
faculty,
Classified ACCEPTABLE USAGE:
Associaton, Instructional Coun In order to make possible the wid
cil, Information Resource Com est use of these important tech
mittee and the President’s Coun nologies a set of shared under
cil are some of the groups that standings and rules is necessary.
have been invited to participate In general the same ethical con
duct that applies to the use of all
in the review, of the plan.
“This is an Electronic Infor college facilities applies to the use
mation Resource Policy, not a of electronic media. Users should
policy to restrict the use of E-mail. show respect for college property,
E-mail is only one of many elec consideration of others, responsi
tronic information resources on bility for actions, and authorized
campus” explained Paul Rothi, and efficient use of college re-
. sources, In addition, qser$.of EJRs
chief information officer.
“These groups‘are being in should have a basic understand
vited to review this draft. The goal ing of the role of the law as re
is to reach consensus that these gards copyright and other legal is-
are rules we as a college commu
nity agree to live by,” Rothi said. 44-------------------------
When consensus is reached, and
a final draft developed, it will be
sent to the Board of Education for
formal adoption.
TITLE: DRAFT ELECTRONIC
INFORMATION RESOURCE
POLICY Policy ~ (Draft #5, 11/
13/95)
PURPOSE: This policy state
ment establishes measures for the
protection, access, responsibility
and acceptable use of Clackamas
Community College’s electronic
information resources. The elec
tronic information resources at
CCC are to be used in a manner
that supports the educational mis
sion of the college. CCC by mis
sion and policy encourages learn
ing, research, creativity, teaching,
and the free exchange of ideas in
a climate of openness and shar
ing. Electronic information tech
nologies are an important set of
tools in this effort.
DEFINITIONS:
Electronic Information Resources
(EIRs): all electronic hardware,
software and associated data that
support the following: adminis-
. trative information systems, desk
top computing, library automa
tion, multi-media, data, video and
'voice networks, electronic mail
• (Email), Internet access, modems,
■scanners, telephone systems,
¡ voice mail, copy machines, fax
; machines, electronic publications
‘ including video, or -afty similar
electronic based fujictjo.niliity*
User: any person authdnzeato use
This is an
Electronic
Information
Resource
Policy, not a
policy to
restrict the
use of
E-mail
sues.
College EIRs must always be used
in compliance with all interna
tional, federal, state, and local
laws. EIRs are to be used through
authorized accounts. Users must
not share their authorized ac
counts with others in a manner
that jeopardizes the security or
integrity of the EIR. Users must
not use college EIRs to make un
authorized entry to other EIRs
inside or outside of the college.
Users must respect the privacy of
others by not inspecting, broad
casting, or modifying EIRs as
signed to individuals without per
mission. CCC EIRs must be used
for college related purposes and
activities as defined by custom,
contract and board policy, al
though occasional personal use is
permitted. For example, an em
ployee may do homework on per
sonal time. The college cannot
■guarantee that messages or files
?are private Or secure.
■Mass electronic mailings and
paudix messages to the entire cam-
‘'ptiS'ffifiKt'haveDESri' SpyrSV’al.
System management techniques
should be used by all levels of col
lege stall to ensure that: a) the
integrity of information is pre
served through access controls
and data custodianship assign
ments; b) system capabilities can
be reestablished within an appro
priate time frame upon loss or
damage by accident, malfunction,
breach of security, or natural di
saster; and c) actual or attempted
breaches of security can be de
tected promptly. Network and sys
tem utilization activity will be
monitored for purposes of main
taining system performance and
security. All data should be treated
as confidential unless designated
or authorized for public release.
Data will generally be shared
among those users whose work
can be done more effectively by
knowledge of such information
unless prohibited. Access to data
is not approval for its use outside
an individual’s official college re
sponsibility. No one shall delib
erately attempt to degrade the per
formance of any EIR or block ac
cess to others. No one shall know
ingly introduce invasive computer
software such as viruses on me
dia that is brought to the college
from outside of the college. All
data and software housed on col
lege EIRs must be owned by or
licensed to the college, comply
with contract agreements between
CCC and its employee associa
tions, and comply with federal
and international copyright law.
Users shall be responsible for
messages they transmit through
the college s EIRs and shall obey
the acceptable use policies of the
Internet and any rules of discus
sion forums in which they partici
pate. Fraudulent, harassing or
obscene messages and/or materi
als as defined by contemporary
court decisions are not to be sent
or stored. Information that is pub
lished electronically using World
Wide Web, Kiosks, Bulletin
Board Systems, or similar elec
tronic applications for broad gen
eral consumption outside of the
college shall be subject to the
same standards as conventional
publications with respect to the
representation of the college.
Failure to abide by this policy
may result in temporary or per
manent denial of access to CCC’s
EIRs. Punitive or legal action may
also be taken by the appropriate
administrative or judicial body in
accordance with college policies
and bargained agreements