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NETWORK CHANGES

Small changes will be made to some segments of our network as we migrate to new equipment. These changes may result in brief losses of network connectivity.

WINDOWS SERVERS/PC DOMAIN

All Windows servers will be rebooted so that patches and updates can take effect. During this time your Windows drive (often mounted as W:) will be unavailable and login attempts to the PC domain will fail.

All PC domain users should LOG OUT Monday evening to avoid file synchronization problems.

If you have any questions or concerns regarding these scheduled upgrades, please contact the help desk at 220 6613, by e-mail at help@cpsc.ucalgary.ca or in person in MS 151.

Thank you,
Computer Science Technical Support

Anand Agarawala - Dept of Computer Science Alumni
BSc. Honours in Computer Science (2004)

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Check out the University of Calgary's U Magazine current issue (Winter 2010) which profiles upstanding Alumni Anand Agarawala, and his work in the creation of BumpTop, a piece of software that can replace a Windows-based PC desktop with a 3D interface that mimics a real desk...

John Ayock, an associate professor
in the University of Calgary’s
Department of Computer Science

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Battling zombies, botnets and Torpig - Distinguished lecture looks at outwitting enemy hackers in the Internet ‘arms race’...

One of the newest threats to individuals, corporations and governments online is the creation of robotic networks, or ‘botnets.’ When a criminal hacker takes over a single computer and operates it remotely, it’s called a zombie, or a ‘bot;’ controlled as a group they form a botnet.

“It’s an issue of scale,” says John Aycock, an associate professor in the University of Calgary’s Department of Computer Science. “If you control an entire network of tens, or hundreds of thousands of home computers, you can do an awful lot of damage.”

Last week, a group of computer hackers—calling itself Anonymous—attacked official websites in Australia to protest a proposed Internet filter aimed at targeting pornography and criminal sites. These groups can also steal passwords, bank account information, and harvest email addresses to expand their botnet.

Aycock and researchers from U of C’s new Institute for Security, Privacy and Information Assurance work on a range of technologies to prevent and detect such attacks.

About 10 per cent of computers world-wide could be infected by botnets, according to Vint Cerf, considered one of the founding fathers of the Internet. Most victims would have no idea their computer was involved. Aycock says it’s widely believed that the perpetrators have evolved from basement hackers to sophisticated online invaders, perhaps with links to organized crime.

“The motivation used to be to put another notch in your belt, today it’s very much money-driven,” says Richard A. Kemmerer, a professor of Computer Science at the University of California, Santa Barbara. Kemmerer will speak about this issue and his research at the University of Calgary next Thurs., Feb. 25.

In January of 2009, his team briefly posed as the criminals themselves, when it secretly took control of the infamous Torpig botnet.

“For 10 days we owned it,” says Kemmerer, who gave the resulting data to the FBI and other federal law enforcement agencies. “We saw more than 180,000 infections. Torpig obtained the credentials of 8,310 accounts at more than 400 different institutions including PayPal and Capital One. In just over an hour, 70,000 passwords were uncovered.”

A pre-emptive approach is the only one that will ultimately prove effective for Internet security, notes Kemmerer. “Remember this is an arm’s race,” says Kemmerer. “It’s the hackers against the good guys.”

WHAT
SPIA Distinguished Lecture: How to Steal a Botnet and What Can Happen When You Do

WHO
Richard A Kemmerer, Computer Science Leadership Professor, Dept of Computer Science at the University of California, Santa Barbara

WHEN
11:30 a.m. on Thursday, Feb. 25

WHERE
Biological Sciences building, room 587

Recently published in the Calgary Herald: Jan 21

Crotch bomber has us by the …
John Aycock, a security researcher in the Department of Computer Science, talks about how recent changes to airport security are “laughable.”

We hope everyone had a good holiday break!

The CSGS will be holding a welcome back party on Thursday, Feb 4th at 4:30pm in ICT 516.  There will be free pizza and other snacks/refreshments. This is a great opportunity for new graduate students to meet and mingle with other graduate students, staff and faculty, while returning graduate students get to catch up with each other.

WHAT: CSGS Winter Welcome Back Party
WHERE: ICT 516
WHEN: Thursday, Feb 4th at 4:30pm

We hope to see everyone there!

CSGS Executive

Event Date: 2010-01-19 at 08:30 am

Location: The Olympic Oval

Fire meets ice at Olympic Oval

Calgarians are invited to witness the historic Vancouver 2010 Olympic Torch Relay and meet some of Canada’s greatest winter games athletes when the relay visits the University of Calgary on the morning of Jan. 19, 2010.

Two-time Olympic gold medalist Catriona Le May Doan will host a special celebration that will begin at 8:30 am when the torch relay convoy arrives on campus as part of its 45,000-kilometre-long journey across Canada – the longest domestic torch relay in Olympic history. Spectators are encouraged to wear white and cheer their hearts out as two-time Olympic medalist Susan Auch carries the torch around the Oval on speed skates before handing it off to up-and-coming Canadian skater Kyle Yoshida who will also take a lap around the world’s fastest ice.

Following the torch celebration, Calgarians can lace up their skates and join Catriona Le May Doan on the ice for a public skate until 10am.

The 106-day Olympic Torch Relay will visit more than 1,030 communities and places of interest in every province and territory. On February 12, 2010, the Olympic Flame will make its way to downtown Vancouver to light the Olympic Cauldron in a magical and awe-inspiring moment before a television audience of three billion people worldwide, signalling the kick off to the start of the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter Games.

We are currently experiencing some printing technical difficulties with some operating sytsems for some printers...this is currently being addressed and this problem will be resolved as soon as possible.  We apologize for any inconvenience.

FILESERVER NSJ

Fileserver nsj will be upgraded. During this time access to /home/jungle and /home/projects will be unavailable.

PRINT SERVER

Printing services will be interupted throughout the day as we refine settings on the new server.

UNDERGRAD WINDOWS SERVER ODIN

Undergrad access to the W:\ drive will be unavailable while we increase profile space.

WINDOWS SERVERS/PC DOMAIN

All Windows servers will be rebooted so that patches and updates can take effect. During this time your Windows drive (often mounted as W:) will be unavailable and login attempts to the PC domain will fail.

All PC domain users should LOG OUT Monday evening to avoid file synchronization problems.

If you have any questions or concerns regarding these scheduled upgrades, please contact the help desk at 220 6613, by e-mail at help@cpsc.ucalgary.ca or in person in MS 151.

Thank you,
Computer Science Technical Support

Applications from graduate students are now being accepted for TA positions for the Winter 2010 session.  All applicants must apply using the Web-based system.  The application deadline for continuing graduate students is Tuesday, December 15th, 1:00 p.m.  The URL is:

https://www.cpsc.ucalgary.ca/webapps/ta_applications/TA/

Note that your application must be submitted by this deadline in order to accommodate the University's new pay cycle schedule. If you miss this deadline, your first paycheck may be delayed. Also note that you can change your initial course selection on the web page at any time up to Wednesday, January 6th, 1 pm.

Please support the Computer Science Graduate Society (CSGS) Annual Food Drive in support of the Campus Food Bank (Nov. 12 - Dec. 1, 2009)

Donations should include non perishable food items or cash. The food bank uses cash to purchase items that are guaranteed to be available or are perishable. Each donation is assigned a point value based on the need at the food bank and the cost of the item.

The lab that is able to gain the most points through their donations will win "The Soup Can Cup"!  More importantly, it will mark your lab as the most caring and generous lab in the department.

We will collect the boxes between 12 pm and 2 pm on December 1st.

Below is a guide to the point assignments:

5 points: Cereal (500 gr), Meal sidekicks (meal)
4 points: Canned fruit and vegetables (400 gr), Hygiene products,Pasta sauce (1 Kg)
3 points: Peanut butter (500 gr)
2 points: Canned beans (400 gr)
1 point:  1 dollar cash*  / All other goods
1 point: All expired items

* We recommend a check written out to the SU campus food bank. If you would like to give cash you can give it directly to a CSGS executive when we pick up the boxes between 12 PM and 2 PM on December 1st.

For more information, you may contact us at csgs@cpsc.ucalgary.ca, or alternately, talk to your lab representative to get your lab organized.

Remember, it's for a good cause!

Thanks,
CSGS Executive

To view the poster, click here