With over 500 viruses being discovered on a monthly basis, it is important that virus prevention strategies be high on the agenda of all LAN administrators. Every school should have an AUP (acceptable user policy) which should include such a virus prevention strategy. All users of the laboratories should be aware of these policies and the importance of adhering to it can not be emphasized enough.
All Khanya networks are configured with antivirus software which protects the network against attacks of known viruses. The full benefit of such antivirus software can only be felt when the virus definitions are updated on a regular basis. Updates are generally done via the internet and should be done on a weekly basis as part of the duties of the LAN administrator at the school.
Too often it is reported that networks are either slow or down due to virus attacks, which has a detrimental effect on the curriculum delivery process at the school. Facilitators should take charge in ensuring that the Khanya networks are not open to virus attacks by making sure the virus definitions are always up to date.
No school should compromise the security of their system by not regularily doing these crucial antivirus updates. In cases where schools do not have access to the internet (which should generally not be the case), antivirus updates can be done by copying the latest virus definitions from http://www.ceie.org.za/ftp/pub/antivirus/datupdate/symantec/ and installing it on the server of the school by making use of a flash drive. These virus definitions can also be obtained from the Khanya project support office and are updated on a weekly basis (every Friday).
Is the non-availability of a reliable internet connection at some schools enough reason not to update their virus definitions on a regular basis?
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
Update before it is too late
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3 comments:
Thanks for these pointers. If viruses infest a school's network it would seem to me that there is no excuse. I sincerely hope that our diligent facilitators will make sure that every LAN administrator in every Khanya school would read this posting.
LANs should make the effort of getting the updates themselves from whatever source(internet cafe/CEI/Khanya). In east district the facilitators do some updates from CD when they get to schools. Advice is given to the LAN with a note explaining how to do the update manually. Unfortunately this is not done weekly as it should be done. The responsibility seem to lie with the facilitator where as it should be the LANs'. The computers belong to the school and not to Khanya.
We should find a group of contractors to work for an organisation like Khanya that can facilitate the process of leading schools from being unable to do ICT things for themeselves to a point where they grow to become ABLE and enable. This refers especially to the repetitive things like updates of software, installations, getting PCs back on line. Oh but where do we find such a body of contractors...skbcr
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