Now is a particularly dangerous time because students are coming back from summer and might be bringing computer viruses in tow, said Bruce Egan, assistant director for the Information Technology Response Center.
Egan said students need to be proactive when dealing with viruses like SirCam, a worm-type virus that goes after individual computers in the form of an e-mail attachment.
The worm then sends the user's Microsoft Word documents to the people in their e-mail address book.
SirCam, which Egan called the "virus flavor of the moment," surfaced this summer with subject lines like "I send you this file in order to have your advice" and "I hope you can help me with this file that I send," according to Symantec, the corporation that produces the Norton AntiVirus software.
Pat Lunday, an Academic Technology & Networks virus specialist, said SirCam is especially deceptive because it usually comes in the form of an e-mail from someone the receiver knows.
But Lunday said SirCam hasn't hit campus hard, partly because ATN set up a filter on mass e-mails sent through the campus e-mail system to protect students and faculty from the worm.
"I don't think it's had a bad effect because we got the word out," she said.
Egan said the response center has been seeing a steady flow of students with computer viruses but that the center's overall traffic is up because it is the beginning of the school year.
"There's been no flood," he said. "We try to encourage students to be proactive."
