November 22nd, 2002 by Dana Roode
Wireless networking continues to be a popular means of accessing UCInet around campus. NACS staff are working hard to install wireless access points, as requested by schools, in the classrooms and common areas where they are most needed. This newsletter will periodically report on new locations as they are built.
Here is a list of some of the latest places where wireless stations have been installed. You may also consult the map athttp://www.nacs.uci.edu/ucinet/mobile/locations.html for information on wireless availability. It should be noted that this list represents UCInet Mobile Access sites, all of which can be used once you have registered your wireless card. There are other access points set up and maintained by individuals which are usually not intended for general use.
- Humanities Hall 262
- Tamkin Student Lecture Building (Med Sci “F”)
- Lecture Hall “A” (rm F110)
- Lecture Hall “B” (rm F114)
- Bren Event Center
- Koll conference room (rm 103)
- Stewart conference room (rm 220)
- Engineering Tower room 201
- Engineering Lecture Hall room 110
- Humanities Instructional Bldg room 110
- Engineering Lecture Hall room 110
- Physical Sciences
- Physical Science Classrooms B rooms 120 & 230
- Rowland Hall, rooms 101,104,108,114 and 188
- Multipurpose Science and Technology, room 214
- Steinhaus Lecture Hall room 134
- Engineering Gateway/ECE Department
- room s2200
- all rooms on 2nd floor, west wing
- all rooms on 3rd floor, west wing
- Social Sciences
- Social Science plaza (between pod A, B and C)
- Social Science Tower plaza(between SSL and SST)
- Social Science Lab, rooms 140 and 248
- Social Ecology 2 Lecture Hall room 1304
If you have a suggestion of a place on campus where wireless access
would be useful, please e-mail nacs@uci.edu.
November 22nd, 2002 by Dana Roode
NACS Network Planning and Security team has implemented scripts in the campus Intrusion Detection System (IDS) which provide the first dynamic measures to utilize the PIX firewall’s blocking capability. These scripts automate the process of denying access to external hosts attempting to compromise systems on campus. This allows attacks to be stopped when they are detected and prevent further attempts against other campus targets.
Previously, the information gathered by the IDS was used in forensic analysis to identify problems after the fact. While this allowed for the halt of continued problems from the same host and helped alert computing support personnel to current vulnerabilities, it did not generally deter the attacker’s first attempts.
The scripts, written by NACS Chief Security Officer, Mike Iglesias, are run when the IDS detects certain signatures in network traffic which are known to indicate the presence of malicious code. A command is then sent to the PIX firewall and the intruder’s IP address is blocked at the border, preventing all further campus access. All blocking, or “shunning,” is automatically logged to a web page for easy reference by help-desk and other campus personnel.
The signatures included for dynamic blocking are carefully considered to avoid producing “false positives” (legitimate network activity which has the appearance of hostile intent). The blocks are removed after a period of time, and reinstated if the system is still attacking UCI systems or starts attacking again later.
November 22nd, 2002 by Dana Roode
In 2001, the campus formed a committee to review the issue of cellular telephone sites on the UCI campus. These sites are required to support cell phone services — a given vendor must have a local installation to provide their users service. UCI had only a single Cingular site on campus at the time, and users of other vendors such as Verizon and Nextel experienced limited service availability.
The committee recognized the need for additional sites, and recommended that they be allowed within certain aesthetic and campus impact constraints. The Administration approved the recommendations in the summer of 2001 and NACS was assigned the role of cell site coordination.
A second Cingular site has been installed and was operational as of August 1, 2002. A cell site for Verizon is under construction, and a site for Nextel is currently in the final steps of the approval process. Both of these sites should be operational within the next six months. Having cell sites for multiple vendors on campus will be beneficial for every day use as well as for emergency use.
For information on cell site safety, please visit www.nacs.uci.edu/communication/celsitesafety.html