By
Marianne Green
Arizona Summer Wildcat
Users can download more security for accounts
After several complaints about unauthorized access, UA e-mail accounts are getting a more efficient security system.
"The Internet used to be a small town where you could keep your doors unlocked," said Mike Torregrossa, the UA's associate director of computing services. "Now we get calls every day about break-ins."
The Center for Computing and Information Technology has been planning on upgrading the 6-year-old e-mail system's security for the past year, Torregrossa said.
Although current users who attempt to log on to Telnet will receive a message stating the system has been closed for security reasons, the old service will be available until October at oldshell.u.arizona.edu.
The $250,000 project will add the SSH, or secure shell, to all Telnet accounts through a program that can be downloaded by the user.
"SSH behaves like Telnet, but it is more secure," Torregrossa said.
The old shell allowed for someone with malicious intent to "sniff" through the e-mail accounts, Torregrossa said.
"Sniffing" is where someone can watch words on computer screens to locate passwords, Torregrossa added.
Only about a dozen users have called CCIT with concerns about the switch.
"The majority of (users) seem to be OK with the transition," Torregrossa said.
"I did not have any problems with (the transition)," said Julie Brown, a political science and French major. "I did not even know telnet was being changed until a friend told me that (CCIT) was getting rid of it."
The Telnet screen has detailed instructions on how to download SSH.
Several students called CCIT wondering where they could get the SSH program and where they can read their mail, said Torregrossa.
SSH is available to download at www.u.arizona.edu/ssh. Users must have their user name and password to download SSH.
Users can also use the Mindterm Java SSH client by using a web browser and connecting to http://newu.u.arizona.edu/.
Users can still read their mail via the Internet at www.email.arizona.edu.
"I usually use www.email.arizona.edu to get my attachments anyways," Brown said. "I was only concerned about losing my address book before Telnet was shut down."
In addition to its e-mail services, Telnet also provides web pages and data storage for its users. With the new shell, these functions will be easier for people to use since the project should be able to give users more megabytes.
"Students used to have only six megabytes to store mail and date, now they have 20," Torregrossa said.
Users can get any additional help with SSH by calling CCIT at 621-HELP.
