Many students will not be saying "I love you" to their computers this Valentine's Day, as a slew of computer viruses have wrecked havoc on the Tufts campus this past week.
Hundreds of students have noticed that the number of virus-laden e-mails they receive has increased significantly, with many originating in Tufts e-mail accounts. According to Tufts' Information Technology Services (ITS) Director Dan Weir, viruses have spread across campus over the last 36 hours.
The Eaton Computer Lab help desk and the Resident Computer Consultants (RCC) have been flooded with calls for assistance. Common viruses hitting Tufts include the Romeo and Juliet Virus, the Anna Kournikova virus, and the so-called Hybris virus (also known as Snow White).
"We've had an explosion of virus incidences overnight," Weir said.
Though some viruses are fairly benign, others, such as the Hybris Virus, can be destructive to computer files and software programs. Some have the ability to access the Internet and update their code every time they infect a new computer, and can corrupt certain .exe files that launch programs.
Virus outbreaks are not surprising, according to Weir, and they typically concentrate within one network of computers. At Tufts, there is often a spike in the number of virus infections when students return from long breaks.
"We see two spikes, at the beginning of the fall semester, and after any break, the next biggest break is after winter," he said. "Usually people bring back files from their unsecured computers at home."
Many viruses send e-mails automatically to every name in an address book, taking advantage of security loopholes in Microsoft Outlook and Netscape Mail. Students who access their mail using the text-based Telnet have less of a chance of downloading a virus, unless they go through the complicated steps of transferring an attachment to their computer and opening it.
Some of the viruses that are hitting Tufts' computers are outpacing even the most sophisticated anti-virus software, and users must constantly update their virus protection with the newest guards. Many viruses can change their code, making them difficult to detect until they have already infected and disabled the detection software. Other viruses exploit the preview feature that allows users to see an e-mail before actually opening it.
Freshman Adam Wilson was infected with a virus that his anti-virus software caught, but was unable to delete. Even after resetting the computer, he still could not access software programs.
"Basically, every time I tried to run a program, the virus's program would run instead. I wound up going on to a friend's computer and learning about the virus. Within an hour I was able to run the fix and had my computer back," Wilson said.
Most students who have problems with viruses resolve them without outside help, as Tufts has no specific group trained to find and destroy viruses.
"Though the RCCs and help desk staff have never refused to help anyone, they're not trained in how to recover a system after it has been infected with a virus," Weir said.
There has been a ten percent increase in the number of viruses that are detected by the anti-virus software in Mugar Computer Lab. Although viruses have been infecting students' computers, the University's computers have not experienced many problems.
"Because the people who write viruses are trying to get them spread quickly, they generally write them for the software that more people use," Director of Telecom and Networks Lesley Tolman said. The software that runs Tufts' network servers and other systems is different than what students use on their PCs.
Though there had not been an infection of one of the University's main computers in months, there is a great deal of effort and money invested in keeping the systems secure. All mission critical systems, such as those that store grades and payroll information, can only be accessed from designated network computers. The University also invests thousands of dollars in advanced virus protection software.
Tufts spent $49,130 to purchase software to protect the University's 4,350 PCs, and an additional $10,700 to protect the 839 Macintosh computers. This year, $9,800 was spent updating the software.
