This summer I traveled to Italy and plugged my laptop into a DSL
line there. In less than a day, I noticed someone in China had
planted a virus called “youwish.exe” on my hard
drive.
I was doing all my banking online ““ and the virus freaked
me out. I spent the next five hours of my vacation locking my
system down tighter than Fort Knox.
As a former Daily Bruin Webmaster, I know that most people do
not have time to constantly worry about their computers ““
they just want them to work.
But many people think the Internet is a carefree place ““
and most people fail to take basic steps to protect the integrity
and privacy of their e-mail, the data on their hard drives or their
personal information (such as banking passwords).
This is the first in a series of columns designed to help
members of the UCLA community understand and cope with various
technical, ethical and legal issues related to their electronic
lives.
The last couple of years have seen explosions of spam, draconian
antipiracy measures, more creative viruses and entirely new
categories of threats (such as spyware and Internet Explorer
hijackers).
Some of these problems are extremely serious, while others are
merely annoying. Still, many consumers don’t know what to
fear more: Microsoft Corp., the Recording Industry Association of
America, the Motion Picture Association of America, hackers, or
their favorite Web site.
In theory, most of the common problems are easily prevented.
Everyone can use legal software, avoid peer-to-peer sharing, delete
unexpected e-mail attachments, and shun disreputable Web sites.
Oh, and companies could treat us decently and provide a
reasonable level of customer support.
But back in the real world, things are not so simple.
Even if you don’t download illegal software or visit the
wrong Web site, you can easily catch a worm (a virus that travels
across networks) simply by connecting your computer to the Internet
and turning it on. Also, unless you frequently update your
installation of Windows, you are vulnerable to new threats that
appear on a daily basis. And not all virus protection programs are
made equal ““ some are better at catching viruses than
others.
And lets face it ““ most college students have at least a
few pirated songs or programs.
As these problems worsen, companies and organizations are
fighting back, trying to save costs and reduce the damage caused by
sloppy or irresponsible end users (and hackers and malicious Web
companies).
Because of the immense amount of traffic created by peer-to-peer
networking and virus-infected computers, UCLA is beginning to crack
down on users who don’t respect the network.
Peer-to-peer networks are assigned a low traffic priority and
sometimes work slowly in the dorms. Virus compromised machines are
put in quarantine and their owners told to contact the Student
Technology Center. And users identified by the RIAA or MPAA as
sharing copyrighted files are giving a warning: Quit or face
further action.
These issues will come up a lot as students move into the dorms
after a summer of living at home. Tons of machines will be virus
infested, and a lot of freshmen will want to go on a feeding frenzy
and download the latest movies and songs.
So let’s start the year off right ““ whether you live
on campus or in the surrounding neighborhoods. Back up your data,
download the latest patches, and carefully consider your use of
illegal software and media files.
Lazzaro is a fourth-year political science and psychology
student. He is The Bruin’s editorial development director.
E-mail him at dlazzaro@media.ucla.edu.