SECURE COMPUTING AT WESLEYAN

When working on a network, you are frequently transmitting passwords and data over unprotected segments.  Within the Wesleyan network on campus it would be quite difficult (although not impossible) for someone with the right equipment to eavesdrop on your transmissions and capture passwords and data.  However, once your transmissions reach the Internet, there are no such assurances.  There are also areas on campus where tighter security is not available, such as the Wood-Frame buildings which are not directly connected to our fiber-optic network.  

To ensure the highest level of protection for your data, we recommend using software which transmits all of your data in an encrypted format.  This means that the software uses an algorithm to scramble your data before transmission and it is then unscrambled when it is received by the server handling the transmission (i.e. the email server in the case of email, the web server in the case of web pages, etc.).

Secure versions of TELNET and FTP

As of February 2006, all Wesleyan Unix servers will be accessible only if you are using secure versions of  Telnet and FTP.  

The servers affected include the Wesleyan Email servers, Condor and  Woodstock and Willet.  Standard versions of Telnet and FTP pass along data in plain text format and provide no protection. 

If you are a Pine user, this means you will need the software indicated below in order to use Pine to access your email.   

If you access the FRS system on Willet you will need to update your version of QVTTerm (see instructions below).