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Defending the network

13 Dec 2013

New technology to protect you and our network infrastructure will be installed on Wednesday, 18 December.

web page block

The Internet can be a dangerous place. There are viruses and trojans trying to infect your PC. Many of these are controlled by criminals who want to steal money from your bank account, or steal your identity or maybe just use your account to send unwanted SPAM e-mails to the world.

To help protect the University network infrastructure and our staff and students we have invested in a piece of technology known as a Unified Threat Management (UTM) gateway. This sits between our campus network and the Internet, helping to prevent bad network traffic from reaching our campus and halls. On Wednesday, 18 December this will be switched on.

It will stop:

  • traffic that is trying to find out where the weak spots are;
  • files containing viruses or trojans;
  • staff and students from accessing web sites that may contain malware, unwanted and illegal content.

So, if while browsing the web you see a page stating 'access to this web page has been blocked', then do not worry, it is just the UTM gateway protecting you and the rest of the University from malicious or unwanted content.

This is in line with our Acceptable Use Policy.

Whilst the UTM gateway provides an additional layer of protection, it is essential that users must still have anti-virus software installed on their desktops and devices. If you are running a managed desktop, IT Services have taken care of this for you. If you use an unmanaged desktop, then you should ensure you have some anti-virus software installed and is kept up to date. It is advisable to do the same for any personal machines that you use.

Under some circumstances you may be blocked from a web site to which you feel you have a perfectly legitimate reason for accessing. If the material you need to access is of a sensitive nature, then you should contact David Barker, Head of Compliance and Risk (ext. 55798). In all other cases, you should contact the IT Service Desk