My internship at Olin Corporation has proved to be one of the most educational experiences I have had in my college career so far.  My responsibilities on the job have continued to increase as the semester has progressed.  Recently I have become Olin’s expert in security and anti-virus protection across our network system.  This is where I have found my calling and intend to pursue further education in.  Olin has given me the platform from which to spring into a technological world that I now feel prepared for.  I feel that it should be mandatory to participate in some sort of internship before a student graduates because you have to opportunity to apply your knowledge from the classroom in a real business environment.  This paper will discuss the area that I have learned working at Olin and that I enjoy so much, the constant battle against viruses across a network.

A virus is a program that can infect other programs by modifying an evolved copy of itself.  A virus doesn’t necessarily have to do any sort of damage; it just has to replicate.  There is a model that is followed for a typical virus structure: 

• Infection – the way the virus spreads
• Payload – what the virus does
• Trigger – where the virus goes

A worm is a self-replicating program that may or may not be a virus, and usually spreads across networks and doesn’t attach itself to another program.  Most worms are later classified as viruses; for example, “Melissa” definitely left her damage and put herself in a separate category of virus infections.  However, a Trojan Horse isn’t usually a virus because it does not self-replicate.  It can only move from one system to another when someone actually moves it.  The first function of a viral program is to reproduce, to copy.  The copying operation is automatic, and the viral program comes to a decision about whether or not to execute.  All viral programs use the most basic of computer functions, and no unique functions are necessary for their operations.    

Virus infections become even more interesting when they are detected across a network system (LAN).  A well-managed LAN with carefully established security settings and minimal privileges for each user, is more virus-resistant than if these were stand alone PC’s.  However, if a LAN is not well-managed it could potentially help a virus to spread like wildfire, and you might have to shut down the entire LAN to remove the infection.  It is important for a networked system to support login scripting because it becomes more resistant to infection, because the user must be validated before the client is allowed access into the network. 

In an organization, the goal of network administrators is to minimize the outbreak of viruses by having in place antivirus packages such as Norton Antivirus.  One of my responsibilities this semester was the deployment of NAV onto a server and then to all client PCs across the network.  This project started in the beginning of August and installation and deployment took about three months.  The battle against viruses is never over when dealing with many users.  Olin has been infected by some serious viruses such as the Sircam, Magistar, and Code Red.  The removal of these viruses is a fight against time, because they are self replicating pieces of code, and you need to eliminate them as fast as possible.

At Olin, Microsoft Outlook is the company standard for email and is prone to security issues with attachments.  Everyone is told and knows not to open emails or attachments from users that they do not know; but what happens when they do know the sender?  This is a common problem in Outlook because the address book is usually comprised of the company distribution list and other personal contacts.  Often, a virus infects the system coming in from email and (depending on the virus) usually replicates itself in the form of an email to every person in your address book.  It is essential for IS administrators to trap the virus at the server level before it even is sent to the client's inbox. 

In today’s society the issue of security plays a big role in the infrastructure of an organization, and is even more essential when dealing with antivirus solutions.  Information security should be based on:  confidentiality/privacy - information should be available only to those who are entitled to it;  integrity - information should be protected against accidental modification; availability - information should be available to those who are entitled to it when they need it.

No matter how much you tell people about the risk of viruses in a system, they still open attachments that cause problems.  In the fight against viruses, user education is key.  You can’t turn every client into an expert, but you can persuade people to think more in terms of security – because security affects us all.  You should also think of diagnosis, and teach users how to spot anomalies.  Make sure they know what to report, and to whom. 

In conclusion, my semester at Olin has been extremely beneficial for my future career in the IT field.  In January I will have been an employee at Olin for one year, and I intend to further my experiences and education with this company until I graduate because I could never learn in any classroom what I have learned there.

Amanda Brundage
Submitted January, 2002

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