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MSUNAG  September 2005

MSUNAG September 2005

Subject:

Intrusion Detection and Prevention at MSU; DDC mailing

From:

Richard Wiggins <[log in to unmask]>

Reply-To:

Richard Wiggins <[log in to unmask]>

Date:

Thu, 1 Sep 2005 10:46:55 -0400

Content-Type:

text/plain

Parts/Attachments:

Parts/Attachments

text/plain (158 lines)

1) IDP at MSU

Thousands of times each day, would-be intruders launch attacks against
computers connected to MSUnet. One recent test revealed 158,000
attacks on MSU computers in a single day. To help combat these
attacks, Intrusion Detection and Prevention (IDP) services are now
monitoring the campus network and preventing known attacks from
reaching their targets.

For more information about the IDP service, please visit
http://help.msu.edu and search for knowledge base article 5567,
"Intrusion Detection and Prevention (IDP) Services at MSU."
Sometime within the next several days, a notice to this effect will go
out to the entire MSU community.
_____________________________________________________________________

2) DDC mailing on technology improvements

Vice Provost Gift has sent a memo to Deans, Directors, and Chairs
outlining recent technology improvements.  Following is a copy of the
text:

31 August 2005
 
MEMORANDUM                   

TO:                              Deans, Directors and Chairs

FROM:         David Gift

SUBJECT:     Start-of-school technology services and support update, 2005 

As we begin the new academic year there are a number of items
regarding changes to technology services and support resources to
report to you from Libraries, Computing and Technology, summarized in
this memo.  Please share this information with your faculty and staff.
 Thank you.
 

Helpline now staffed 24x7

In recognition of the ever-growing variety and use of online academic
programs and services, and of MSU's growing student populations in
foreign countries and engaged in study abroad, the Helpline
(800-500-1554 or 517-355-2345 from most locations) now has regular
staffing around the clock, 7 days a week, with very rare holiday
exceptions.  This new staffing pattern has been in place since 1 May
2005.  While the number of overnight calls has historically been very
small, it is growing, and LCT wanted to be ahead of this trend and
prepared for future growth.


vuDAT supports development of hybrid instruction

This is not a change, but a reminder that the Virtual University
Design and Technology group provides support and assistance for
development of "hybrid" or "blended" instructional models (i.e.,
partially online and partially face-to-face), as well as for
development of entirely-online programs.  Contact information and a
range of informational resources are available on the Web at
vudat.msu.edu.


Intrusion detection and prevention added for network security

Intrusion detection and prevention (IDP) services have been added to
MSUNet to enhance network and computer security.  IDP works a lot like
virus scanning, by inspecting network traffic for signs of known
malicious code or malicious behavior, but is far more comprehensive
than virus scanning alone, and applies to all network traffic both
inbound and outbound at the point at which the IDP is applied.  These
services are operated according to guidelines for trusted network and
host computer security (http://www.msu.edu/au/#trusted_network), and
are being installed at the campus border to the Internet and within
the MSUNet backbone.  As an illustration of the need for this
technology, the border IDP has recently identified as many as 16,000
attack signatures per hour.  While IDP will not eliminate network
security problems, it should help to mitigate them a great deal. 
Computer users and system administrators still are encouraged to use
local security tools (virus scanners, firewalls, etc.) appropriate to
their needs and in appropriate ways.

IDP is a complex and relatively new technology.  We already have found
instances in which regular uses of systems have been identified and
blocked as malicious by the IDP services.  We will need to make
adjustments over time to the IDP rules to appropriately balance
security effectiveness and appropriate systems use practices.  Units
having questions about the MSUNet IDP or who believe their systems or
regular network usage may be adversely affected by the IDP should
contact Tom Davis, director of Academic Computing and Network Services
(353-6727).

Sensitive data management

LCT is collaborating with the Controller's Office, Internal Audit, and
units all across campus to enhance University-wide management of
sensitive data.  Earlier this summer several resources were
distributed to all units, including a form to guide the development of
awareness of local uses and storage of sensitive data, and a checklist
and guide document for business and system administrators regarding
effective sensitive data management practices.

Informational meetings will be scheduled soon with individual units,
beginning with central support units to discuss progress, needs and
questions.  We are working centrally to build a list of University
forms and business processes for which the use of sensitive data may
be reduced or eliminated, and units already have taken action to
implement some of these changes.  The effective practices guide
document will be enhanced and re-released soon, and will incorporate
steps necessary for compliance with a new Michigan Social Security
Number Privacy Act.  We appreciate the attention that is being given
across the campus to this effort.

MiLR optical fiber network operating

The "Michigan LambdaRail" (MiLR) optical fiber network is operational.
 MiLR is a collaboration of MSU, the University of Michigan, and Wayne
State University.  The network is a 750-mile ring of optical fiber
connecting the three research university campuses with multiple
research and production-Internet network connection points in Chicago,
including the National LambdaRail, and multiple international research
networks at the StarLight networking facility.  MSU's production
Internet and Internet2 traffic is now carried on MiLR by Merit
Network.

For the past two years, MSU has operated a 1 gigabit-per-second (Gbps)
connection to the Merit Network.  Merit's MiLR channel is operating at
10 Gbps, providing MSU with a great deal of production networking
bandwidth headroom at a relatively fixed cost.  MiLR is capable of
supporting multiple 10 Gbps data channels, and MSU researchers may use
these for dedicated point-to-point networking with a variety of
collaborators nationally and worldwide.   Inquiries regarding use of
MiLR for research support should be directed to Tom Davis, director of
Academic Computing and Network Services (353-6727).


High performance computing center now in service

The High Performance Computing Center (HPCC) initiated production
research support operations in May 2005.  The Center contains an SGI
Altix 3700 Bx2 shared memory computer with 64 processors, 256 GB RAM
and 6.4 TB fiber-channel attached storage, providing approximately 333
GFlops (billion floating-point operations per second) of computing
power.  The Center is currently adding a Western Scientific AMD
cluster with 512 (dual-processor) cores, 1 TB aggregate RAM,
Infiniband connective fabric, and 8 TB of fast attached storage.  The
cluster is estimated to provide 2.4 Tflops of distributed computing
power, and is anticipated to be in production early Fall Semester.

The HPCC is a collaboration of the College of Engineering, College of
Natural Science, National Superconducting Cyclotron Laboratory, and
Libraries, Computing and Technology, with substantial financial
support from the Vice President for Research and Graduate Studies.  It
is intended for production research computing in support of
computationally-based research in all fields practiced by MSU faculty,
University-wide.  The Center's website contains information regarding
its resources and governance, how to become a user, and other topics
(www.hpc.msu.edu).

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