Virus Protection at the SSCC Computer viruses, worms and other malicious software have become a serious and very public issue. SSCC staff have taken several steps to avoid being affected by viruses, and these have been generally quite successful. Most viruses, including the recent highly publicized ones, are dealt with before our users are even aware of them.

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We will continue to take whatever steps are needed to keep our systems secure. This article will describe the measures we have taken to stop viruses, and some steps you can take to further reduce your exposure. Rest assured that SSCC staff monitor the bulletins of anti-virus software makers and others who work on detecting and eradicating viruses. We will be aware of threats before they are published in the mainstream media. Much as we appreciate your awareness and concern, there's no need to forward warnings you may have received to us. In addition, a substantial fraction of virus warnings are in fact hoaxes.

Server-Side Filtering Our email server automatically checks incoming email attachments. If the software determines an attachment is dangerous, then the message is rejected and a warning is sent to our Linux system administrator.

Attachments which are merely suspicious are 'defanged' (see below) to prevent them from being run casually or even inadvertently. Files that are known to be viruses are immediately rejected.

In addition the file types are examined and those which experience has shown are far more likely to be viruses than legitimate are rejected. These include most program files (.exe,.com,.pif,.bat,.dll, etc.), Visual Basic script and JavaScript files (.vbs,.vbe,.js) and screen savers (.scr), among others. Another common trick is to use two different extensions to disguise a virus, for example paper.doc.exe, because on many PC's the final extension is hidden. Thus the file appears to be paper.doc, a harmless Word document rather than a malicious program. Our server rejects all files with two extensions. If you need to send someone a file which would be rejected, there are many alternatives to email (SFTP, etc.), or you can rename the file temporarily. Contact the for assistance.

Finally, certain file types are 'defanged.' This simply means that some numbers and the word 'DEFANGED' are added to the file name so that Windows can't recognize the file type. Thus you can't run it by just double-clicking on it. If you are confident that the attachment is indeed safe, save the file to a convenient location and then rename it, removing '#####DEFANGED-' from the name. Then it will run as usual. Anthropology Study Material Pdf Ias 1. This server-side filtering is our first line of defense against viruses, and is quite effective.

It is particularly useful against new viruses before they are handled by anti-virus software (and often before anyone knows they exist). For example the Magistr virus spread for two days before it could be detected by anti-virus software.

However, it spread by sending itself as an attachment with one of four different endings. We defanged all files with those endings, and this was enough to prevent it from spreading to anyone using our email. Note that all of this only applies if you are using SSCC email (your email address is user@ssc.wisc.edu). DoIT email ( user@wisc.edu) does limited filtering, though they are working on making their email system more secure. Protecting University PC's Each PC installed by SSCC staff includes Symantec Antivirus. This powerful and flexible software has two main components. Real-time protection constantly monitors your PC to prevent viruses from installing themselves, and scanning checks your PC for the presence of viruses.