November 2002 Update
New Product to Help Control Spam
In response to a dramatic increase in the amount of junk email, or "spam," coming into the UW, C&C is installing a commercial software product to help control the problem.
C&C has been testing the new product over the past few months to make sure that it can handle the high volume of roughly 600 thousand email messages coming into the university each day, nearly half of which appear to be junk email. While it is clear that no product can eliminate junk email completely, C&C testing indicates that the new product will provide some relief.
The new product will scan incoming email and use a variety of checks to mark likely messages as spam. Users then will be able to divert those messages into a secondary folder for later review. Users also will have some control over the sensitivity of the scanning process. The product should be available for use in Winter Quarter.
Faster, Easier WebPine
In response to user feedback, C&C is working on a new version of WebPine designed to be faster as well as easier for beginners to use. WebPine is the online email program that offers anytime/anywhere access to email through MyUW. The new version should be available by the end of Autumn Quarter.
New Look for UW Homepage
C&C has been asked to lead an effort to redesign the UW Home page to produce a cleaner, simpler look and to take the first step in a longer range effort to make the home page a more effective marketing tool for the university.
The initial redesign, which should be live by the end of Autumn Quarter, involves creating separate home pages for internal and external audiences. The move reflects a recognition that the current page is trying to serve too many audiences.
The next step will be to form two committees to focus on a more comprehensive redesign. One committee, led by C&C, will look at the internal home page and involve users from across the UW community. The other committee, led by University Relations, will consider the external page.
C&C Launches New Internet Service for UW Alumni
C&C is launching a new Internet service that will offer UW alumni the same rich array of online features they enjoyed as students and give the UW a valuable new way to stay connected to its graduates.
The new service, MyUW.net, will provide a limited free email account, and, for $20 per month, full email service, dial-in Internet access from most of western Washington, MyUW, Web publishing, and more. A first version of the service should be available by the end of Autumn Quarter. Discussions are underway about extending MyUW.net to other UW constituents.
More information: http://www.myuw.net/
Bandwidth Policy Enforcement Benefits Users, Saves Money
C&C is using new technology to enforce UW policies that define acceptable network use in residence halls. The move is a response to a dramatic rise in network traffic from residence halls that has resulted in slower network connectivity for some residence hall users.
The new technology will help to alleviate network connectivity problems and will prevent the university from having to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars in additional annual network operating costs that would have been incurred as a result of the increased traffic.
Enhancing UW Computing Security
Working with system administrators from across the university, C&C is continuing to focus on a variety of efforts to strengthen the security of the UW's computing and networking environments. Those efforts include:
- Leading the Privacy Assurance and Systems Security Council (PASS), which provides oversight and direction on university-wide computing security issues
- Adopting a Security Program Plan based on existing and anticipated regulatory compliance requirements
- Conducting threat and vulnerability assessments
- Launching security awareness and training efforts including a computing security Web page at http://www.washington.edu/computing/security/
- Drafting university-wide security policy and guidelines, which currently are being reviewed by UW computing directors and other constituents
- Commissioning a formal review of security program efforts by several outside consultants earlier this year confirming that the UW's approach is on target.
Task Force Aimed at Improving Notice of Computing Outages
In response to concerns by the deans and others, C&C has initiated a new task force to examine ways to improve notification to the UW community of computing outages and security attacks.
The task force, which includes representatives from UW departments and units, members of the UW Computing Directors Group, system administrators, and C&C staff, currently is evaluating such options as a special Web page and telephone hotline. The group is seeking input from the UW Computing Directors Group and others before making final recommendations.
UW Works to Conform to Digital Millennium Copyright Act
C&C is participating on a task force to ensure that UW practices conform to the 1998 Digital Millennium Copyright Act, which addresses copyright infringement of digital media. The task force, which also includes representatives from the UW Attorney General's office, Office of Intellectual Property and Technology Transfer, and the Libraries, is establishing a process for handling digital copyright infringement complaints.
More information on the DMCA: http://depts.washington.edu/uwcopy/information/copyrightlaw/dmca.shtml
New Group Focuses on Windows Networking
C&C is coordinating a new group that meets regularly to discuss how best to support Microsoft Windows networking at the university. The group is made up of Windows network administrators from all three campuses and provides a forum for collaboration and exchange of ideas. In addition, C&C has provided some infrastructure for Windows networking to help with security and interoperability.
C&C Searches for New Calendaring System
C&C is evaluating options for replacing Corporate Time, the calendaring system currently used by C&C and Nebula, as well as many UW departments and units. Corporate Time recently was acquired by Oracle, which is making changes that are incompatible with the UW's technology environment. As a result, it is likely that Corporate Time will need to be replaced within a year. C&C also is exploring university-wide calendaring options with the UW Computing Directors Group.