Data Center expansion completed

The EITS Boyd Data Center, located on the first floor of the Boyd Graduate Studies Research Center, was recently expanded to accommodate growth in research computing, hosting of departmental computing equipment and other computing equipment installations. For more information, please see the following EITS press release:

http://www.eits.uga.edu/pressreleases/2006/dce.html

Second candidate for Associate CIO for Administrative Systems and Planning position to visit campus During the next month, on-campus interviews will be held with the three finalists for the Associate CIO for Administrative Systems and Planning position. The second finalist to visit campus is Ms. Michele Dominiak, who will be in Athens February 27 – March 1. An open forum for Ms. Dominiak will be held Tuesday, February 28, 1:45 - 3:00 p.m., in the Georgia Center, Room K/L. For Ms. Dominiak’s resume and complete interview schedule, please see: http://www.eits.uga.edu/cio.php?l=2&c=interview

COE takes sensitive data seriously

The College of Education has recently appointed technology and data management liaisons for all departments within the college, according to COE IT Executive Director Dr. Sandra Glass. The goal, notes Glass, is to provide a communication and training process concerning the protection of sensitive data.

In addition, a security information web site has been created with links to important security requirements, training materials and resources that can be used by departments. Streaming video of speakers addressing security issues is one feature of the site. “The site was created to provide a resource for our technology and data management liaisons as they share information with faculty and staff concerning ways to protect sensitive information,” says Glass. Rebecca Macon, UGA Registrar, and Stan Gatewood, CISO, have delivered presentations captured for the site.

Glass also credits staff in the Office of IT at the COE -- Barry Robinson, Michael Wisenbaker, Ron Braxley and Chris Fedorczak – with providing technical and creative support of the training and web site. For more information, please see:

http://www.coe.uga.edu/security/.

Humanities Computing lecture given by U. of Illinois dean John Unsworth slated for today

Sponsored by the Willson Center for Humanities and Arts and the Department of English, a lecture will be held today, February 24, on Institutionalizing Humanities Computing by John Unsworth, Dean of the Graduate School of Library and Information Science at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. The lecture is scheduled for 4 p.m. at 265 Park Hall. For more information, contact Julie Dingus at 542-3966, or jdingus@uga.edu .

https://db.uga.edu/mastercalendar/

Web site promotes healthier living for seniors

A new website is aiming to help Georgia seniors take charge of their health and lifestyles. The state Division of Aging Services and the University of Georgia launched the "Live Healthy Georgia" website to provide seniors, families and caregivers with information to help them live well and age well.

http://www.walb.com/Global/story.asp?S=4515537&nav=5kZQ

Internet sales tax defined as interstate issue in testimony

Testimony during a special hearing last week might have unintentionally set the stage on which small businesses could be held responsible for the collection and processing of sales and use taxes from transactions on the Web. Probably the most significant structural feature of existing state sales tax laws insofar as they apply to Internet sales is that state sales taxes generally apply only to sales of tangible personal property and not to most sales of digital products, services or intangible property, said Walter Hellerstein, University of Georgia School of Law taxation professor.

http://www.blackenterprise.com/yb/ybopen.asp?section
=ybbf&story_id=89618953&ID=blackenterprise

http://www.bergen.com/print.php?qstr=ZmdiZWw3Zjd2c
WVlRUV5eTY4ODE0NjgmeXJpcnk3ZjcxN2Y3dnFlZUVFeXky

Jim Crow and the Indians

Salon.com has published an article by UGA history professor Claudio Saunt. “Jim Crow and the Indians,” is about African-Americans who were ancestors of the slaves of Cherokee and other Indian tribes.

http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2006/02/21/cherokee/index_np.html

Intrusion Prevention System update

CISO Stan Gatewood has reported that the recently installed Intrusion Prevention System (IPS) is stopping about 93,000 inbound attacks and 6,000 outbound attacks at the perimeter of the UGA campus network. For more information on the IPS, please see the following Columns article:

http://www.uga.edu/columns/060206/news-prevention.html

Open source software survey

EITS recently responded to the "2005-2006 National Survey on Open Source Software Applications in U.S. Higher Education." The survey is being conducted to assist in the formulation of a better understanding of the way institutions across the country are planning for and using open source software applications for instruction, scholarship and campus administration. For more information on open source software and the Open Source Software Initiative, please see:

http://www.opensource.org

UGAMail equipment repair and maintenance

UGAMail support staff has successfully repaired an ongoing problem that affected about 25% of all UGAMail users. As of Sunday, February 19, full service has been restored to all users, and Associate CIO Greg Ashley and the EITS directors wish to congratulate the UGAMail support staff on a job well done.

UGA Observatory plans open house

The University of Georgia Observatory, recently refurbished thanks to student technology fees, will resume its open house Friday night, if weather permits.

http://onlineathens.com/stories/022006/uganews_20060220018.shtml

Woman charged with hacking into the e-mail of a former UGA dean

A Loganville woman has been arrested on criminal trespass and computer invasion charges for allegedly hacking into the e-mail account of a former UGA dean.

http://onlineathens.com/stories/022306/news_20060223081.shtml

http://www.ledger-enquirer.com/mld/ledgerenquirer/news/politics/13941880.htm

Laptops taken from UGA campus

A laptop computer valued at $1,537 was reported stolen from the University of Georgia's Dawson Hall between noon, Feb. 2 and 10:30 a.m. Friday, UGA police said.

Another school-owned laptop, valued at $1,812, vanished from Sanford Hall between 8 p.m. Thursday and 7:30 a.m. Friday, according to UGA police.

http://onlineathens.com/stories/022106/cops_20060221024.shtml

A University of Georgia-owned laptop computer valued at $2,000 was stolen from the university's Lucy Cobb Institute between 5 p.m. Monday and 8 a.m. Tuesday, February 15, UGA police said.

http://onlineathens.com/stories/021706/cops_20060217035.shtml

Operations & Infrastructure welcomes new employee Chris Hughs has accepted a position of System Administrator Associate within EITS Operations and Infrastructure and will begin work in this capacity on March 1st. Please join us in congratulating Chris and wishing him well in his new role.

EU wants research organization

The European Union has solicited proposals for a European Institute of Technology, which would conduct research and work to commercialize products and services that come from the effort.

http://www.theregister.com/2006/02/22/european_mit/

UK universities criticize technology institute plans

Plans to set up a flagship European Institute of Technology published Wednesday are poorly thought out and will produce a "costly white elephant," say British university heads.

http://education.guardian.co.uk/higher/news/story/0,,1715553,00.html

Google denies acting unlawfully in China

Internet giant Google, which has agreed to block politically sensitive items on its new China site, rejects Chinese newspaper reports that the new platform does not have proper licensing.

http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1895,1928930,00.asp?kc=ewnws021206dtx1k0000599

New Zealand: Canterbury Web site glitch opens access to student records

Canterbury University has been forced to shut down online access to student records following security problems over the weekend. A glitch in the system meant that some students logging on during the busy enrolment period were privy to other people's private information.

http://www.nbr.co.nz/home/column_article.asp?id=14415&cid=3&cname=Technology

National LambdaRail completes nationwide network infrastructure deployment

National LambdaRail (NLR), a consortium of U.S. research universities and private sector technology companies, has announced that it has completed its deployment of a nationwide optical, Ethernet and IP networking network infrastructure on more than 15,000 miles of fiber-optic cable across the United States.

http://lw.pennnet.com/Articles/Article_Display.cfm?ARTICLE_ID=248571&p=13

Microsoft funds academic research

Microsoft has awarded $1 million in academic research grants for projects studying Microsoft Virtual Earth technology and the company's Trustworthy Computing initiatives.

http://news.com.com/2100-1011_3-6040463.html

Taking 'cyberinfrastructure' to researchers

It's not just about bytes. It's also about people. Florida International University has adopted this attitude in a new project called Cyberbridges, which it hopes will help develop a new cadre of researchers and engineers well versed in using advanced computation.

http://chronicle.com/wiredcampus/index.php?id=1032

E-mail making college professors more approachable - but perhaps too accessible?

At colleges and universities nationwide, e-mail has made professors much more approachable. But many say it has made them too accessible, erasing boundaries that traditionally kept students at a healthy distance.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/21/education/21professors.html?ex=
1298178000&en=369f9f043899ed57&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss

E-textbook demand slow despite comfort with technology

So much for the belief that the current college-age generation is comfortable with everything digital: the publishing industry has been talking about electronic textbooks for a decade already, but sales remain minuscule.

http://www.cnn.com/2006/EDUCATION/02/16/etextbook.demand.ap/index.html?section=cnn_education

Scholar makes the fake news

A well-known scholar of intellectual property was featured last night on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, the satirical TV news show that has become the main source of current-events knowledge for many college students. The academic was interviewed on a segment about the popularity of social-networking sites like MySpace.

http://www.comedycentral.com/sitewide/media_player/play.jhtml?itemId=59182

Officers train to use Facebook as tool

Concerned about harassment and cyberstalking, officials at Purdue University at West Lafayette have trained police officers to handle disputes on Facebook, the popular online social network.

http://www.purdueexponent.org/index.php/module/Issue/action/Article/article_id/2916

Indiana U. professor produces active cookie

A researcher at Indiana University has developed technology he calls "active cookies" that he says will help defeat online scams.

http://www.pcworld.idg.com.au/index.php/id;215389687;fp;2;fpid;1

Anti-virus companies warn of OS X worm

Users of the Macintosh operating system received a rare security warning on Feb. 16 after samples of an Internet worm that targets the OS X operating system were identified by anti-virus companies.

http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1895,1928019,00.asp?kc=ewnws021706dtx1k0000599

http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1895,1929342,00.asp?kc=ewnws022206dtx1k0000599

http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20060220-6221.html

Goal of hackers at U. of Washington: storage?

Even though the giant computer system at the University of Washington Academic Medical Center in Seattle contains medical records for more than 2 million patients, hackers who breached its firewall apparently only wanted to store their own stuff, UW officials said.

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2002808555_uwhack16m.html

Are passwords passé?

When Bill Gates stood before an audience of IT security experts at the RSA Conference Feb. 14 and declared that "passwords don't cut it," many in the audience took it as evidence of another sea change in the technology market and a sign that strong authentication has finally arrived.

http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1895,1928079,00.asp?kc=ewnws021706dtx1k0000599

PDF security, part I: Understanding security preferences

In this multi-part series on PDF security, PDF Zone examines how to make the most of Acrobat security options, and then takes a step-by-step approach through applying and verifying PDF security credentials.

http://www.pdfzone.com/article2/0,1895,1928737,00.asp?kc=ewnws021206dtx1k0000599

For the latest virus and security information

Visit the EITS antivirus website for the latest campus virus advisories and fixes:

http://www.virus.uga.edu

To learn more about security issues at UGA and around the world, please see the Office of Information Security website:

http://www.infosec.uga.edu/

https://jobapp.humanres.uga.edu/hr_app/hr_position_vacancies.cfm