• BU Home | 
  • News | 
  • Events | 
  •  | 
  •  

ITS Newsletter - Winter 2006

ITS Newsletter


Welcome to the ITS Newsletter, a quarterly communication to Bethel computing community.

newletter1



In this issue you'll find:



banner.png

August 2006 Update:

The Business and Purchasing Offices began using Banner June 1 for purchasing, general ledger processing, and accounts payable checks.  End user training for CAS Admissions continues this fall, now with a go live date of January 2. CAPS/GS and Seminary Admissions will begin using Banner for recruiting and admitting new students at the appropriate time this school year.  Progress continues on the Student module, particularly student records and registration support. Student teams, Human Resources, and Financial Aid staff participated in many weeks of training and consulting throughout the summer. Go live dates for those modules are Human Resources in January, Registrar in March, and Financial Aid in several phases from February through April.  Advancement training begins at the end of September. Technical and organizational team members have attended several training sessions for the new Luminis portal. Watch for interesting news about Bethel’s Luminis portal as we near its rollout early next year.

top


employees.png

Basics of Computing at Bethel

New to Bethel? Been here a while but looking for an easy how-to reference for computing at Bethel? Either way, the Fall 2006 edition of the "Getting Started with IT at Bethel University is a great four page resource for basic issues such as resetting your password, accessing your network folders from off-campus, installing network printers, and finding out ITS contact information.

top


faculty.png

News from the Faculty Consultants

  • A new school year...a new Faculty Instructional Technology Consultant
    August 1, De Zhang joined the Bethel community as a faculty instructional technology consulting under ITS, serving mostly CAS faculty.   Welcome De!
 dzhang.jpg

De Zhang

  • Faculty IT consultants at the IC desk (library, next to the reference desk.)

    • When?
      Mondays-Thursdays 4:00 pm to 6:00pm
      Saturdays 10:30 am to 12:30 pm.
    • Come and visit us there!

  • Blackboard 7:

Blackboard's newest upgrade. The most obvious change is in the Discussion Board, which has acquired some nice new capabilities. Forums can now be easily graded, and allow for peer review as well.

top


News from the V.P.

Dr. William Doyle
Vice President of Information Technology Services

Fall Update 2006

ITS has implemented many changes over the past year. The Fall Update
reflects upon the past year and provides direction for the upcoming year.
Read Dr. Doyle's Fall Update 2006

  • Anti-spam enhancement
  • Backup environment
  • Update on Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act (CALEA)
  • Exchange-server upgrade
  • Internet bandwidth
  • Microsoft-licensing agreement
  • Network security
  • Portal and calendaring
  • Staffing
  • Update on our CARS replacement project
top


questions.png

I would like to set up my home computer for my Bethel email.  How can I do this?

The officially supported method to access Bethel email from off-campus is webmail, both the academic and administrative versions.  However, ITS does provide knowledgebase articles documenting  configuration settings for Entourage, Outlook, and Outlook Express, but doesn't provide support beyond that. 

Do you have a "How do I....?" ITS question that you think the rest of Bethel would benefit from having answered here in the ITS Newsletter?  If so, email your suggestion to the helpdesk with the subject "Newsletter Question" or click here helpdesk@bethel.edu
top


server.png

New and Improved Spam Filtering


In early August, ITS implemented a new spam filtering system.  This system is designed to both allow us to filter new types of spam faster and more effectively with updates from a vendor, as well as allow a consistent interface and individual customization.

While this system is filtering junk mail more effectively for most users, each system is different and different types of spam may have been filtered differently before.  This may mean that you see mail in your quarantine that was being silently filtered before.  If you trust the system's filtering and would rather it permanently delete messages, you can change your preferences as described later in this article.

The filter system has three levels of filtering by default.  First, the system references some lists of known spam sources, and refuses messages immediately.  For most sources, the system accepts and scans the message, and tags it with a "score".  Messages with a high enough score or containing certain things are then quarantined.  Other messages are delivered normally.  As filtering is never perfect, the system will always either reject the message, quarantine it, or deliver it.  Other than viruses, it won't accept a message and then throw it away.

One of the strengths of this new system is the settings can be changed directly by each user.  Each day (by default) the system will send a notice to anyone who has received new quarantined mail.  At the bottom of this message is a link to view the messages and access your preferences.  This link is valid for approximately 3 days after the email is sent.  Below is some information about things you can do from the filter web interface.

Whitelisting
Certain types of mail can look like spam, while being something you want to receive.  Occasionally these are personal messages, but are usually mailing lists, especially those from companies offering products for sale.  The best way to handle these is to whitelist the sender.  Once whitelisted, if you receive a message from that address again the system won't even filter it, but just deliver it to your mailbox.  To do this you can click the "Whitelist" link in the list of Quarantined messages.  You can also add or remove addresses from your whitelist by going to the "Whitelist/Blacklist" tab under Preferences.

Blacklisting
Sometimes you may receive mail that doesn't look enough like spam to be filtered, but you don't wish to receive it.  One possibility here is a newsletter that won't let you unsubscribe.  If you add the sender to your blacklist (under Preferences, Whitelist/Blacklist), the system will immediately discard any messages from that address.  It should be noted that there is no copy of these messages kept anywhere on Bethel's system, and you can't even see which messages were thrown away.  This feature should be used very carefully.

Quarantine Settings
Do you not want to receive the quarantine messages as often or at all? You can change how often you get the notices on the Quarantine Settings tab.  ITS does not recommend the "Never" option, as you won't have a way to change settings once the links in your current quarantine messages expire.  If you wish to receive mail in your mailbox rather than it being quarantined, you can do that here as well.  Messages will be tagged in a hidden header field, which you can use to filter to another folder if desired.  Anyone forwarding mail to a non-Bethel mailbox should not use this option, as to the receiving system it will appear Bethel is sending the spam.

Changing filtering levels
Under the Spam Settings tab, it's possible to change what actions are taken based on the spam score the message receives.  To make changes, the first step is to tell it you don't want to use the defaults, and then choose Save Changes.  Then the numbers in the boxes can be changed (unfortunately the sliders are only for display).  To make the filtering more aggressive, choose lower numbers.  To make it more conservative, choose higher numbers.  Choosing 10 will disable that feature.  If you trust the filter enough, you can choose to enable Blocking.  ITS cannot currently recommend this option however, as when a message is blocked it is silently discarded.  There is no copy of these messages kept anywhere on Bethel's system, and you can't even see which messages were thrown away.  The block feature should be used very carefully.

Learning (Bayesian) filter
This system provides a way to mark spam and not-spam to build an individual profile for your mailbox, making the filter more effective. Unfortunately doing this properly is time consuming, and currently difficult as one can only mark messages in the quarantine.  As it requires 200 not-spam messages to work, it's unlikely that many people would ever be able to utilize it.  For now we recommend this feature be ignored, as we are trying to make the system as accurate as possible for everyone rather than needing each person to change things before benefiting from the filter.  If you want to play with this part of the system anyways, you can find some information at:
http://kb.its.bethel.edu/login/articles/372/

top


students.png

The Ongoing Battle to Keep Your Computer Secure

This article primarily addresses issues with Windows-based computers due to their currently much greater vulnerability to security threats.

By now, most of us have had an encounter with some type of malware. Malware is the term of choice to categorize all forms of software designed with a hidden or malicious purpose.

University residential networks, commonly referred to as ResNets, are environments where students' computers are exposed to about every malware threat imaginable. The old threats, such as network worms, still exist, but due to wide-scale use of anti-virus software and automated system software updates have diminished significantly.

Given the resourcefulness of the “bad guys,” they’ve focused on ways to compromise your computer that bypass the standard security measures. The weakness they exploit is you. That’s right, they exploit your vulnerabilities.

So, how do they do it? They entice you with free software that does really cool stuff. This software is known in computer security terms as a trojan. Trojans appear to be legitimate and useful software, but they contain a hidden program that monitors how you use your computer or even worse steals your confidential data.

Another common method of compromising your computer is through peer-to-peer file sharing. What appears to be an ordinary file is a file that contains a hidden program to compromise your computer.

The “bad guys” have also become much better at hiding their software on your computer. A common method involves a program called a “rootkit.” You don’t need to understand what it is, but you do need to know they are very hard to detect and in most cases impossible to remove without erasing the hard drive.

Tips for Keeping You and Your Computer Safe

  • Use Caution with Free Software Downloads

Don’t download free software that doesn’t have an obvious source of revenue. Not always, but often free software generates income by collecting information about you and then selling it to marketers. Free software is also used as a delivery package for the real bad malware designed to steal your private information. You can check to see if free software is known malware by going to the following site:
http://www.spywareguide.com

  • Don’t Do Peer-to-Peer File Sharing.

Not only is peer-to-peer file sharing a good way to compromise your computer, it can lead to very large legal expenses related to copyright violations.

  • Keep Anti-Virus Software Up-to-Date

If you don’t have anti-virus software, or the package you use is no longer updating, or the subscription has lapsed, we can provide it to you free of charge as part of Bethel's site license. Go to the following website to download software:
http://www.bethel.edu/its/students/antivirus-software

  • Keep Your Operating System Patched

If you use Windows go to the following website:
http://update.microsoft.com

Apple OS X based computers default to automatically update.

top