November 2004

QCT

Quick Computing Topics (QCT) is an electronic Newsletter published by Administrative Computing and Media Services/User Support for CSUB Faculty, Staff, and Students. Past issues will be archived on the IRTS homepage (http://www.csub.edu/InfoRes/CTS/QCT). Please address any comments or suggestions to: Administrative Computing secretary at extension 2115.

Campus Users,

Information Resources has identified a spyware program that has infected two computers on campus. Though no confidential information has been compromised thus far, this is a very important issue from a security standpoint because of the possibility of releasing confidential information to unauthorized persons. The spyware program identified is called the Marketscore Proxy.

The Marketscore Proxy is a spyware program that redirects all web traffic to Marketscore.com's servers to scan and collect information on all web activity including encrypted traffic.

To circumvent this spyware, we have blocked all outgoing traffic to Marketscore.com's servers at our firewall. For nearly all users, this is a transparent change in the firewall. However, if you become infected with this spyware, Internet Explorer or any other web browser you use will stop working. All other Internet applications such as FirstClass or Meeting Maker will work fine.

If you find that your web browser has stopped working, contact the helpdesk at x2307 for assistance. Once this spyware is removed, your web browser will be functional again.

These firewall changes will not affect users at the CSUB-AV campus or the Lancaster University Center (LUC).