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Campus
e-mail accounts attract spam, viruses
Computers
• Students can visit the Technology
Help Desk, located in the Horn Center on
lower campus, for help with their computer
problems. Yulian Danusastro / Online Forty-Niner
By
Lauren Simmons
Online Forty-Niner
Contributing Writer
These
days, having an e-mail address is like handing
out an open invitation for a virus. Viruses
show us how vulnerable we are. A properly
engineered virus can have an amazing effect
on the Internet. On the other hand, they
show how sophisticated and unified human
beings have become.
A
computer virus must piggyback on top of
some other program or document in order
to execute itself. Once it is running, it
is then able to infect other programs or
documents. Today, e-mail is the vector of
choice for viruses, worms, Trojans, and
various forms of "spyware," which
are all generally designed to steal something
from the user, from login credentials and
bandwidth to the user's identity, credit
card and banking information, and more.
Some even have the power to completely crash
an entire system.
The
Cal State Long Beach Web mail system has
been experiencing its own share of viruses
lately. Many students use the campus Web
mail system as their only source for e-mail.
In doing so, students are naive to viruses
and spam on the Web, and one little mistake
could bring a virus into the CSULB system
or their system at home.
With
subject lines as innocent as "pick
up your phone," "a question for
you," or "hey there," and
mail pretending to be from people in the
user's address book, it can be hard for
even a computer expert, let alone a student,
to tell the genuine mail from the dangerous
bait. The most recent virus going through
the system was claiming to be "mail
from Maxson."
The
worst and most successful viruses and spam
are called the "social engineering"
tricks in which the authors of malicious
programs use psychological trickery to encourage
the recipient to take the bait and open
an attachment. These sneaky little programs
are typically disguised as sound files,
screensavers, greeting cards or even patch
programs that promise to remove a virus
from the user's system. Leaving users to
navigate this minefield on their own is
just asking for trouble.
If
a student runs into the problem of spam
or a virus, they can contact the CSULB Technology
Help Desk to assist them with solving the
problem. The Help Desk representatives are
familiar with several computer systems and
will personally walk students through the
steps of removing viruses, spam or spyware.
One
employee at the Help Desk offers a simple
solution to safeguarding yourself from a
computer virus—simply avoid programs
and mail from unknown sources.—Buying
virus protection software is also a good
idea, he said.
Also,
the University Library contains a research
guide that recommends doing some research
before forwarding a message to anyone regarding
a computer virus. It lists two sites to
check out. The first, www.mcafee.com/anti-virus,
has a free subscription newsletter to notify
you regarding viruses, an information library
of 50,000 known viruses and provides information
about virus hoaxes. The second, www.symantec.com/avcenter,
lists top threats and also includes information
about virus hoaxes.
So,
remember to do your homework before opening
e-mail or downloading a program if you are
not familiar with who sent it. If you run
into a problem, contact the Help Desk Monday
through Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. at
(562) 985-4959.
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