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<p>Good morning everyone. We now have several new users of the
chemistry linux systems and log files indicate that the machine
named dock is seeing good weekly usage. Based on things I have
witnessed in the last 24 hours, I need to say a few things
regarding best practices for using dock with respect to security
and "playing nice"...</p>
<ol>
<li>When I went into the lab this morning dock was logged into an
account and beside the keyboard was a sheet of paper with the
account name and password. This action would not only allow
anyone to come in and change the password, it also exposed all
of the files in that user's directories to be deleted or
changed. Not only that, if a person did malicious things
online they could easily be traced back to that account and the
owner would we held responsible. Take home point: do not
leave passwords lying around and when you are done log off to
protect the account and the system</li>
<li>If you do find that you need to work on dock for an extended
period of time or you have a calculation that needs to continue
to run while you are away then please lock the screen. Use
screen locking judiciously. Once you lock the screen you have
blocked all other users from using dock. <br>
</li>
</ol>
Let me know if you have any questions. I am glad that you all
have this resource to use; let's keep it safe. I am on the hook to
the University for the security of our network in the department.<br>
<pre class="moz-signature" cols="72">
--
Andrew J. Pounds, Ph.D. (<a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:pounds_aj@mercer.edu">pounds_aj@mercer.edu</a>)
Professor of Chemistry and Computer Science
Mercer University, Macon, GA 31207 (478) 301-5627
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://faculty.mercer.edu/pounds_aj">http://faculty.mercer.edu/pounds_aj</a>
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