DNSChanger malware found on Campus

DNSChanger is a Trojan horse that was distributed in many forms, and when installed it actively changes the infected system's DNS settings to rogue servers that redirect legitimate searches and URLs to malicious Web sites that attempt to steal personal information and generate illegitimate ad revenue for the scammers.

The Mac variants of the malware, found starting in 2008. These have been distributed through Web sites disguised as required video codecs for QuickTime, and as with the Windows versions, when installed the Trojan would change the system's DNS settings to servers that would redirect legitimate Web URLs to malicious sites.

New Lab Location Update

Residential Computing has seen a large increase in foot traffic since our move.  We were located in Landers Hall on the second floor.  We moved from there to our current location on the north side of Valsetz where we share our space with the RSC (Residential Service Center). 

Package Tracker

Package tracker has some new features.  These include Adding Housing as a Carrier, added envelope as a package type, and sending email notifications to Housing personnel as well as to students.

BOTS

We have seen an increase of BOT activity in the last month.  Infected computer get placed into quarantine until it can be scanned and cleaned.  So far we have not seen any trends on how the computers are getting infected.

Cameras

We have reinstalled a camera server.  We try to minimize the down time and luckily the server that needed rebuild was our smaller server with only 15 cameras on it.  We installed the newest version of the Pelco DS software.  The install was fast and easy to get installed.

Timeclock

Found an interesting situation with the time clock where a student could not login to manage his account.  He would get a generic error message.  He could log in to his Portal account and into his windows account.  I had him reset his password and again, he could only access his Portal and windows accounts.  Searching through the code for that application I found where his error was, but it was not making obvious why it was running into the section of code it was in.  Finally I was able to track down the username the student was using was capitalized and would not work as the system is case sensitive.  I tends to be simple problems and simple solutions, but this one took me a few hours to find.

Systems Maintenance on Tuesday, Nov 1st

We will be performing systems maintenance on the Windows servers (MICROS and Odyssey). During this time all Dining wholesale purchases will be unavailable.  The Expected down time will be 1hr.

Times are CRAZY!

Well in the passed few weeks we have had a lot going on.

The rundown….

New computer Equipment purchased
            -24 computers
            -10 monitors
            -12 printers
            -28 wireless keyboards and mice
Lab move
Deliver part of equipment order
Office move
New Student Week
Continue to deliver equipment

This is all on top of our dailly duties of helping Housing and Dining get ready for the Fall move in.

New Student Week

The new location of the lab has worked out really well so far.  We are getting a constant stream of students who are in need of assistance and have been moving them through at a nice fast pace.  This year has been the best for us so far.

Residential Computing Lab

The Landers Computer lab has moved to the ground floor of Valsetz on the north side.  We have also changed the name to Residential Computing Lab.  Along with the move of the lab came my office.  I was previously the RHA office.  Being centrally located will help students find us and we expect more usage as a result.  Our hours have also expanded to match the R.S.C. M-F 8am - 11pm Sat-Sun 12pm - 11pm.