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April 3, 1991

 

                                     MINUTES

                               Computer Committee

                      Fourth Floor Burruss Hall Board Room

                                  April 3, 1991

                                      3 PM

 

 

        PRESENT:     Don Allison, John Cosgriff, Bob Heterick,

                     Gerry McLaughlin, Fred Medley, Harlan Miller,

                     Mary Miller, Terry Rakes, K.B. Rojiani,

                     Jay Stoeckel, J. R. Webster, Mike Williams,

                     Richard Sorensen

 

        ABSENT:      Darrell Bosch, John Burton, Joseph Cochran,

                     David Goodyear, Katherine Johnston, Joan McLain-Kark,

                     Ernest Stout, Jeff Wilcke

 

        VISITOR(S):  Barbara Robinson (Computing Center)

                     Edward A. Fox (Computing Center/Computer Science)

                     Dr. Lee Wolfle (College of Education)

 

 

        AGENDA ITEM 1:  MINUTES OF THE MARCH 6, 1991 MEETING

 

        Motion made, seconded and passed to approve the minutes of the

        March meeting.

 

        AGENDA ITEM 2:  SECURITY POLICIES (WOLFLE)

 

        Dr. Wolfle, when attempting to log on earlier this month, found

        that his VM1 userid was already logged on.  It was subsequently

        determined that two sessions on his userid were initiated without

        Dr. Wolfle's consent.  Since passwords are the only means of log-

        ging onto a userid, knowledge of or guessing his password was re-

        quired for this to occur.  Passwords are one-way encrypted and

        completely unavailable to anyone, including Computing Center per-

        sonnel.  Thus the mechanism by which this intrusion occurred is

        unclear.  The Computing Center believes this to be an isolated

        incident, but will attempt to determine if there have been simi-

        lar unreported problems and, as always, will agressively pursue

        solutions to any security problems that appear.

 

        AGENDA ITEM 3:  COMPUTING CENTER ANNOUNCEMENTS (WILLIAMS)

 

        The TELNET terminal server is now available.  Technical and ad-

        ministrative problems require that the Center limit users to ac-

        cess to local hosts.  The prohibition against anonymous access to

        national networks obligates the Center to temporarily impose this

        limit until a means of supplying identification/password support

        on the terminal server can be put into place.

 

        As of April 7, the PASSTHRU IMS command will access the ACF2 se-

        curity package front-end rather than putting the user directly in

        IMS.  This change will simplify MVS security (users will need

        only one password) and is a response to recent audit comments.

 

        AGENDA ITEM 4:  VISION STATEMENT DRAFT (COSGRIFF)

 

        A draft planning document was distributed electronically to com-

        mittee members before the meeting.  Thanks were offered to John

        Cosgriff, George Crofts, Ed Fox, Mark Sanders and Jack Webster,

        who produced the report.  Discussion will begin electronically,

        with comments to be sent to cosgriff@vtvm1 by April 17, followed

        by further review at the next full committee meeting.

 

        AGENDA ITEM 5:  SUBCOMMITTEE REPORTS

 

        1.  Personal Computer Subcommittee (Sorenson)

 

            The subcommittee met with Virginia Tech Facilities on March

            19.  The Virginia Tech Bookstore explained their organiza-

            tion, pricing and costs.  The sale of computers to meet pro-

            gram requirements is a low-margin operation, and, in light of

            figures presented, the subcommittee concluded a 5% markup ap-

            pears to be reasonable.  There is still concern for the mar-

            gins, which can be greater than 10%, on computers sold to

            individuals not facing a program-wide requirement.  The sale

            of software under site licenses is also unresolved, since the

            bookstore feels their charge does not include such efforts.

            Another meeting with Virginia Tech Facilities is scheduled

            for April 25.

 

        2.  Computer Capacity and Planning Subcommittee (Allison)

 

            A initial report of the subcommittee's survey was distrib-

            uted.  Replies were received from 70 individuals, though the

            response rate from those in Engineering, the heaviest

            mainframe users, was disappointing.  The subcommittee's con-

            clusions will be presented at the next committee meeting.

 

        AGENDA ITEM 6:  ADDITIONS TO THE AGENDA

 

        A draft report issued by the Task Force on Appropriate Use was

        distributed.

 

 

 

 

        The next meeting will be held on May 1 at 3 p.m. in Burruss 400.

 

        Meeting adjourned at 4:28 p.m.

 

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