A new private, online security system change has been installed at MCC – a system with the capability to watch what users are doing online.
The system was upgraded to protect students’ identities better and to crack down on illegal downloading more effectively, according to Campus Network Coordinator Larry Lanning. MCC is required to track what people are doing on the system, whether that’s credit card transactions or downloading content. The new system helps do the job better, Lanning said.
The old MCC Open Network allowed for students to connect to the system without having to sign in with their student ID, which is not the case now with the new MCC private network. All users will have to sign in. When MCC switched over to the private network, Lanning said they found out what students were doing more effectively because the system allows staff members to be able to see what users are doing.
“We were finding that the main problem is that people are downloading content illegally,” said Lanning.
Since discovering that students were illegally downloading, the college has been able to take action to prevent the problem.
“If we catch someone doing that, they will have to talk to the associate dean and will be banned from using our system, which means they won’t be able to log back into their account. This is why it’s important for students not to share their login info with their friends. If they do and their friend does something like download illegally under their login, they’ll be the one that gets in trouble for it,” said Lanning.
Lanning said he hope the new system will make students feel more comfortable when they are using it.
April 5, 2012
Campus