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It's harder to control student systems, since students are asked to comply voluntarily with regulations for patching sys- tems and updating virus software. Arsneault recently imple- mented a user address registration system that kicks in when students get online in class; it allows him to track who is using the recommended software and who is not. "What we haven't decided is exactly how to deal with the folks who haven't installed the software," he says. At Temple University's Fox School of Business and Management in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, all students are required to install the school's approved anti-virus software. That software, Symantec's Norton AntiVirus Corporate Edition, is made available to students via CDs and downloads from the university's Web site. "We have been diligent," says Ariel Silverstone, Chief Information Security Officer at Temple. "They can't log on if they don't have it." It's not quite as strict at Washington University's Olin School of Business in St. Louis, Missouri, which recommends Norton's anti-virus software but does not enforce its use. MBA students are required to bring laptops; if they order the preconfigured Dell option, it comes with the Norton soft- ware. "But we tell them that any anti-virus program is better than none," adds Scott Ladewig, manager of networking and operations. "For students who claim poverty, we direct them to a free adware program." Students who live on the Wash U campus get the anti-virus software free as part of their housing fees. "We've looked at licensing it for other students who don't live in university housing, but we haven't gone down that road yet. It's expen- sive," says Ladewig. It's also management-intensive. "If I have 100 students using this software, how many of them live in the dorm, and how many taking classes here are really stu- dents at another school in the university? It's tricky unless the university decides to license the software for every student." It can also be tricky to deal with executive education partic- ipants, who frequently bring laptops that have been configured by IT specialists back at the corporate headquarters. "We haven't really tackled this challenge," says Harvard's Arsneault. "But we do want to be able to identify the systems they're using and, if a machine is causing a problem, disable it. We'll proba- bly do that with a MAC address registration application." That MAC, or "media access control," address registration system directs users to the registration page of a virtual local area network (VLAN). They must supply details such as their names and domains before they're allowed full access to the VLAN. "The whole process takes 60 seconds, and then the user has full access to HBS network services," says Arsneault. "In addition, the IT group then knows who the person is and 28 BizEd JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2005 when the person is on the network. The process only needs to happen once per PC." Soldiers in Reserve: Redundant Measures It's common practice for all institutions to back up data and store it someplace safe. But where is safe? And how much redundancy is enough? School administrators in New York are particularly haunted by these questions. Says Baruch's Downing, "We're probably more conscientious than most schools because the odds are greater that we'll be affected by terrorists. We've been at Orange Alert since 9/11." When making backups, says Downing, the goal is to have them close enough for easy access—but not so close they're also destroyed by whatever catastrophe takes down the system. Because Baruch is part of CUNY, backup stu- dent and mainframe information can be stored on a sys- temwide mainframe. Baruch doesn't stop at creating redundant data storage; the school also has more than one communications link for the campus network. "Before 9/11, many institutions only had one path for communications," says Downing. "If that link was destroyed or interrupted, they didn't have service. Since then, many places have invested in not only having another physical way in, but also in using another vendor." Baruch is now part of a fiber-optic ring that includes a vari- ety of educational institutions in Manhattan, says Downing. Fiber-optic networks, he explains, allow signals to go in reverse, as well as forward, so that they can still get to their destination even if there's a break in the loop. Because the signal travels at light speed, it arrives at its target in the same time frame, even if it has to travel farther to get there. "We're running that serv- ice in addition to the same connection that we had at the time of 9/11," he adds. "It would take quite an incident to create a disruption that would affect both of them." Along this ring is a commercial telecommunications and networking facility where the university leases space. "We have servers in there that can be brought into action should some- thing happen to our main computing system," Downing says. All Flags Flying: Constant Communication Since security is only as effective as the people practicing it, these administrators work to keep their constituencies informed. Most schools provide information about viruses or other vulnerabilities via e-mail, printed notices, and alerts posted on school Web sites. Ladewig says that the Olin School covers the issue of cybersecurity during orientation for incoming students, which reinforces communications sent out electronically before students even arrive on campus.