Securing Your Computer

Staying ahead of the game

Securing your computer can become as habitual as almost everything you do in your life. Working it in to a routine will help keep your computer healthy and prevent problems from creeping up at inopportune times. Here are some habits you can develop to maintain your computer’s health.

While there is no way, short of not using the Internet, to guarantee that your computer won’t be infected with any number of common Internet problems, adopting a good system of consistent and basic computer upkeep tasks will go a long way in helping you keep a clean and healthy computer.

Understanding the Threat

Having a high-speed, always-on network connection is a security threat to your computer and to other computers. Viruses, bots, worms, or a whole slew of other destructive entities can infect your machine. Once infected, personal information can be stolen, data on your computer could be lost, your computer could spread an infection to other machines on the network, or your machine may be compromised and used to launch attacks or probes against other machines. Since Resnet has no direct control of your machine, the person to whom the port is registered is entirely accountable for all violations associated with that port.

This means that you are responsible for the security of every machine you use on Resnet.

If your machine is discovered to be vulnerable or compromised by a virus, worm, or Trojan horse exploit, it will be quarantined and prevented from accessing Resnet. This is done to prevent the problem from spreading or affecting others on the network. If this occurs, you will receive an e-mail message informing you of what happened, and you will not be able to access Resnet on that port.

Having your computer quarantined does not necessarily mean that you are in trouble. It does mean you should ask for help.

If you receive a quarantine message, contact the ITS Help Desk immediately so they may instruct you on the best course of action. The ITS Help Desk will help you fix the problem and will provide you with instructions on how to prevent it from happening in the future.

Back to Top

Resnet > Home