UC's e-mail system fights Mydoom virus

Recently, the Bearcat Online virus-scrubbing capabilities were put through the rigors as yet another e-mail worm spread throughout the nation. 

The Mydoom e-mail worm made headlines as it commandeered countless machines nationwide attempting to cripple The SCO Group and Microsoft Corporation's online resources. 

The new e-mail system, which began operation in Fall 2003, "has been a champ," according to UCit officials. 

"It is really top of the line," said Frederick Siff, vice president and chief information officer. "It is better than Yahoo.com. It is better then MSN." 

From Jan. 26 until 29, Bearcat Online processed an average of 1,013,691.5 e-mails per day, according to Amin Shafie, technology specialist for UCit.  

During that time, an average of 6.8 percent or 69,047 e-mails per day were either blocked or cleaned by the system, preventing the bug from taking root in BOL user computers. 

"When a virus comes out within a couple hours people notice it," said Siff, "Almost immediately there's a vaccine... and suddenly it's filtered out." 

Fortunately, on Jan. 26, the day of the outbreak, UC cancelled classes because of the weather, he said. 

"There was about a three hour window where these things would have gotten through," Siff said. "Basically it's not harming us at all." 

Previous to the advent of the new server, provided by the California-based Mirapoint Corporation, UCit would shut down the entire system in the event of a major attack, said UCit officials. 

Over the summer, the Sobig e-mail bug plagued campus networks for nearly two weeks. 

The server shut down momentarily around September while a filter was applied to the network, UCit said. 

"We were really fortunate in the way we managed the system," said Shafie. 

A nearly year and a half long process took place to find a server more conducive to handling the increasingly customary use of e-mail on campus, he said. 

Mirapoint has regional offices in the United States, Europe, Australia and Asia.  

"It's a huge new activity, the whole idea of virus protection," Siff said. "Suddenly it's a whole new service that we have to provide." 

Nationally recognized as one of the leaders in Blackboard implementation, students may not be aware of all that UC has to offer in e-mail and information technology services. 

"When it comes to technology... whatever you need is available to [students]," Shafie said. 

To date, only 55 percent of students have activated their BOL accounts, according to UCit. 

However, that may soon change. 

"A new student e-mail policy requires UC students to use their BOL accounts to do business with the university," said Shafie. 

UC will use electronic mail to communicate official university information of many kinds to students.  

"Students are responsible for reading their e-mail on a frequent and regular basis, since some official communications may be time-sensitive," according to the official e-mail student policy. 

The university suggests students access their Bearcat Online e-mail accounts at least three times a week. 

Currently, accounts offer 15 megabytes of disk space per account for students, as well as the latest in anti-spam and virus protection. 

"Its almost like we went from a little Kia, something or other, to a Lexus," Siff said. 

While e-mail usage increases on campus, the capabilities students have will continue to grow as well, said Shafie. 

"We will continue to enhance the system," he said, "we will stay current with the demands" 

As President Zimpher calls for fiscal belt-tightening, UCit may help meet some of those demands as well. 

E-mail saves about $120,000 a year when compared to using the postal service, according to Siff. 

"When people wonder how we are going to do these budget cuts," he said, "one way is to say we are going to give different services that are better and... are going to save us money."