“Slammer,” the denial-of-service computer worm which infected technical systems nationwide, also struck the University Jan. 24 and 25, and University officials are working on preventing future invasions.
The virus caused danger and inconvenience on a national level by disrupting computers, ATMs and emergency dispatch systems.
LSU’s Office of Computing Services uses the same software the virus attacked, Microsoft SQL Server. The worm slowed access to the University’s bandwidth, preventing some students from accessing University accounts.
“All computers, operating systems and application software need to have all known security patches installed,” said Charlie McMahon, Telecommunications Security assistant director. “This is the responsibility of the user or system administrator in charge of the equipment.”
LSU’s AgCenter immediately updates its systems when a new patch is available, which is why its system was not affected, said David Woerner, LSU AgCenter computer services assistant director.
McMahon led a staff of Computing Services workers overnight last week to restore bandwidth. Although the AgCenter’s servers were not affected by the virus, workers came in Saturday to monitor the servers as a precaution, Woerner said.
Microsoft offered a patch to protect software once it discovered the weakness could cause danger.
“Some users and system administrators do a better job than others at keeping the security patches on the equipment they are responsible for,” McMahon said.
The University can install firewalls on all external network connections to prevent further viral invasions. Firewalls block outside access, which helps prevent viral invasions.
Residential Life recently sent a bulk e-mail to residents announcing plans to install firewalls in on-campus residences.
“[The firewall] approach would place more controls on the movement of data across our network connections,” McMahon said.
All students, faculty and staff can download Norton AntiVirus free of charge. The Student Technology Oversight Committee purchases the licensing for the antiviral software, McMahon said.
Some students did not notice the attacks because they occurred during the weekend. University systems went down around 11:30 p.m. Friday and were back up by Saturday afternoon.
“I knew there was an ATM down, but I just went to my bank in the Union,” said Ryan Eaton, a general studies junior.
Eaton said he was able to perform routine activities while technical systems were down. However, he said it would be inconvenient if something happened during the school week because many of his assignments are posted on PAWS.
Although the University is taking steps to prevent attacks, some viruses are inevitable.
“Viruses will keep on attacking our systems,” Woerner said. “All we can do is make sure that every server and every workstation has updated antivirus software and that we patch and update these systems on a regular basis.”