Physics network test Tuesday July 29 9:00-10:30 AM

[Bryan Dunlap]

We will be testing a new Physics Dept. network firewall configuration on 
Tuesday morning, July 29, from 9:00 AM until 10:30 AM. During that time, 
please report any unusual network connection problems immediately to the 
PCF staff in room PRB 1199 via email toaction at physics.osu.edu or by 
calling 2-4269. It is critical that we hear about problems so that we 
can correct them before the changes become permanent.  The planned date 
for the permanent change is August 4.

Official OSU Policy is now requiring that department network firewalls 
be configured in a more secure mode.  This means that each allowed 
connection from a network computer to a program must be specified, and 
that anything not explicitly specified will be blocked. Our old 
configuration, where only prohibited connections from network computers 
to programs are specified, and anything else is allowed, will be disabled.

This is more secure, because if you only open program/host combinations 
that you actually need, you are vastly less subject to unexpected 
attacks via types of connections you had not thought to block in our old 
configuration. This frees up administrator time from responding to such 
events, makes the local network more stable, reduces unwanted network 
traffic, and minimizes attack vectors to local hosts.

While we will work hard to avoid blocking network traffic that is 
important to our customers, it is possible we will miss something. If 
you find that some previously working connection from your computer to a 
service or host on the Internet stops working, be sure to let us know in 
case the problem is related to this work.

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         ==BD