Virus affects first day of registration
By Jason Hochstatter
IV Leader, Dec 7, 2006
Online registration for spring classes started Nov. 6, but
some of the first students who registered had problems with WebAdvisor due to a
computer virus.
WebAdvisor, the online registration client that IVCC uses,
was infected with a virus, causing problems for students who tried to register.
Students who registered before the virus had been removed were actually
registered, but they did not know they were registered.
“We very seldom have any problems,” said Harold Barnes,
Director of the Information Technology Department. A virus was discovered in the
system and removed from the server around 9:39 by web master Bob Hunter.
“Once we rebooted everything was fine,” said Director of
Admissions Tracy Morris. “It must’ve been a newer virus,” said Barnes, adding
that the server’s anti-virus software is updated every Friday.
Barnes also said that the campus’s computers are protected by
a firewall, a type of program that protects computers from outside threats. Web
Advisor itself runs on an outside computer, and it was through that the virus
was introduced.
Barnes said, “We went over all security issues, and tightened
all kinds of security.” This is the third year that Web Advisor has been used.