Malware Infection Strikes Again

Staff Writer

   The malware infection that infected several computers across the University of Arkansas-Monticello campus in October struck again the morning of Nov. 25.

   The virus infected a computer in the Writing Center, causing a few computers to lose connection to the network.

   Writing Center Director and Foliate Oak Adviser Diane Payne said she remained able to run her classes because some of the computers continued to work, as the virus only targeted a select few.

   Information Technology Director Bobby Hoyle said the malware problem will probably never be resolved, but assured the department grasped control over the issue.

   "There is no software out there to prevent this," Hoyle said. "Once a machine becomes infected, the only thing to do is rebuild the machine."

   He said the computer receives a "denial of service" message when one computer overloads the network and shuts down equipment.

   The message came to the Writing Center in the form of an Address Resolution Protocol Attack, also known as an ARP Attack, causing the network switch to stop working. The computers in the lab connected to the flooded switch, losing connection to the network.

   Once IT took the infected computer off the network, the connection restarted on the other affected machines.

   Since the outbreak last month, the number of incidents decreased according to Hoyle.

   "This is the first in almost a month," he said.  "We were able to get a handle on it quicker and from looking at the network, it appears we've gotten it under control."

   The IT department also holds a few other tasks on its agenda. The department remains in transition to its new location in Wells Hall and setting up a data center.

   In the coming semesters, Hoyle said he plans to have the learning management system, commonly known as WebCT, upgraded from version four to six.

   If all goes according to plan, UAM faculty will have the spring semester to work with the updated software to begin teaching in the summer and then fully in the following fall semester.

Have a comment? Please e-mail us.

©The Voice 2008