Tips for Students

I. Security Tips

    One must take some precautionary measures when bringing a computer from home and connecting it to the UCF network. Please follow some of the guidelines below to make your computing experience at UCF as safe as possible.

• Do not turn on file and print sharing
  • We find that many new students bring their computers to UCF from home with file sharing turned on. Although this may have been useful at home, here at UCF this may be exploited by other users.
• Do not run a multi-user operating system (e.g. Windows XP Professional, Windows 2000, Unix, Linux) without a strong password
  • Setup strong root/Administrator passwords to your Unix/Windows systems
    • We find many systems without an Administrator password
• Do not leave a logged on workstation unattended.  Secure your workstation (or logoff your sessions) when you leave.
• Do not transmit sensitive data over a non-secure site
  • Many forms of data traverses on a network in clear text. Please follow these basic steps to avoid unauthorized users from capturing and reading your information:
    • Do not send sensitive information (e.g., SSN, credit card #, passwords, etc.) over email, or instant messaging (AOL, MSN, Yahoo, etc.)
    • Do not input sensitive data in web sites without a secure connection to the site. Look for a lock on the bottom right corner of your browser.
• Do not share your account information (e.g., passwords) with any other student or UCF staff
  • No UCF staff has the authority to ask for your password
• Do not use easy to guess passwords. Passwords should contain a mix of numbers and letters (use mixed case) and change it frequently.
• Do not run a computer without an antivirus software installed.
  • Free antivirus software for ResNet students may be obtained here
• Do not download programs, applets and images from unreliable and unknown sources; you might also be downloading Trojans with it.
• Do not open file attachments from an unsolicited email until you confirm the source by contacting the sender. You must have updated antivirus software running all the time.

• For more technical tips please consider checking our system standards page at Computer Security Standards

II. File Sharing and Peer to Peer (P2P)

• As a university we understand the philosophy of open communication and sharing of ideas and articles. However, we do not support sharing of ideas or articles that belong to private individuals or organization. Please check the UCF Golden Rule

What is P2P?

• Peer to peer (P2P) is a network protocol for computer users, used for downloading files. Rather than connecting to the Internet, P2P software allows surfers to connect with each other to search for and download content. Since the reputation of P2P applications have been in general to share copy protected content, it is prohibited from us on campus. The following applications are some examples of P2P application:

    It is the responsibility of every user to ensure that none of these applications, their clones, or any other type of server, is running on a computer connected to the University of Central Florida network. Failure to do so is a violation of the Acceptable Use Policy (AUP) and as a resident student your privileges to the network may be terminated.

• Billions of files per month are illegally downloaded around the world. Check this out.
• CAMPUSDOWNLOADING   -  Protect yourself. Do it Legally.

III. Hacking activity

• Scanning, probing or unauthorized access to systems is a violation of UCF Acceptable use Policy (IT Resource Policy), and State and Federal laws.
• Port scanning and network sweeps for vulnerable systems is not acceptable and is justifiable cause for termination of network access.