======================= SSCC News, August, 1998 ======================= Inside this issue... 8mm Queues Available on VMS Introduction to UNIX Training Sessions Training Session on the Video Projection System in 4308 Soc. Sci. Recently Uncovered Vulnerabilities in E-mail Programs GUY's Slowness Problem Resolved --------------------------- 8mm Queues Available on VMS --------------------------- Several batch queues are now available for writing data to 8mm tapes on VMS. 8mm tapes are a good choice for off-line storage because they are cheap and can hold a lot of data - approximately five gigabytes. As a comparison, 9-track tapes hold approximately 150 megabytes and 3480 cartridges hold approximately 200 megabytes. 8mm tapes are available for approximately $7.00 from DoIT's Tech Store at 1210 West Dayton Street. If you purchase tapes elsewhere, make sure you get computer data grade tapes. All 8mm tapes must have a number assigned to them by the Data Library staff before they may be used in the SSCC computer room. Bring your tape to the Data Library (4470 Soc. Sci.) and ask the staff for assistance. Batch processing of 8mm tapes is almost identical to that of 3480 cartridges and 9-track tapes. The table below lists the various queue names and related SSCC documentation: FROM TO QUEUE SSCC PUBLICATIONS ---- -- ----- ----------------- Disk/8mm 8mm/Disk 8MM, SHORT8MM HowTo #50, HowTo #52 3480 8mm 8MM3480 HowTo #54, HowTo #55 9-track 8mm TAPE8MM HowTo #51, HowTo #53 WORM 8mm WORM8MM Pub. #2-8 SSCC Publications with information on 8mm tape processing include: Using WORM Platters (Pub. #2-8) Data Storage Alternatives at SSCC (Pub. #2-9) Easy Conversion of Foreign and Unknown 9-Track Tapes (Pub. #2-11) How to Transfer ASCII files between 8mm tape and disk (#50) How to Transfer ASCII files from 9-track to 8mm tape (#51) How to Transfer SAS and SPSS files between 8mm and disk (#52) How to Transfer SAS and SPSS files from 9-track to 8mm (#53) How to Transfer ASCII files from 3480 to 8mm (#54) How to Transfer SAS and SPSS files from 3480 to 8mm (#55) Note that EBCDIC to ASCII copies to 8mm tapes do not work. It is necessary to do the copy to disk first and then copy the ASCII data from disk to 8mm tape. -------------------------------------- Introduction to UNIX Training Sessions -------------------------------------- As a part of SSCC's new graduate student orientation, we will be offering several two-hour hands-on Introduction to UNIX sessions over the next several weeks. Any SSCC member can sign up for one of the sessions as room allows (new graduate students will be given first priority for class times). Visit https://www.ssc.wisc.edu/Sscc/announce.htm for class times and instructions on how to register. ----------------------------------------------------------------- Training Session on the Video Projection System in 4308 Soc. Sci. ----------------------------------------------------------------- The Space Management Office (SMO), has scheduled a training session for anyone interested in learning to use the video projection system in 4308 Social Science. SMO staff will distribute written instructions, review step-by-step operating procedures, and provide hands-on training. The session will take place on Monday, August 24, from 11:30 to noon in 4308 Social Science. ----------------------------------------------------- Recently Uncovered Vulnerabilities in E-mail Programs ----------------------------------------------------- Two problems were discovered recently in current versions of popular email programs that make it possible for a hacker to hide a destructive program in an email message. First, the "Long file name vulnerability" describes the danger in mail programs from Netscape and Microsoft. This bug affects Netscape Communicator 4.0 through 4.05 and Netscape Communicator 4.5 Preview Release 1 on the Windows 3.1, 95, 98, and NT platforms. At this time Netscape does not believe that this vulnerability affects the Macintosh or Unix versions of Communicator. Microsoft's Outlook 98 on Windows 95, Windows 98 and Microsoft Windows NT 4.0; Outlook Express 4.0, 4.01 (including 4.01 with Service Pack 1) on Windows 95, Windows 98 and Windows NT 4.0; Outlook Express 4.01 on Solaris; and Outlook Express 4.01 on the Macintosh are all affected. Outlook 97 is not affected. Second, a similar problem was found in Eudora 4 where the threatening program can be hidden to look like a webpage link and executes when the user clicks on it. Eudora 3 is not affected. For advice on protecting yourself from malicious email, please read https://www.ssc.wisc.edu/Sscc/mail.htm. ------------------------------- GUY's Slowness Problem Resolved ------------------------------- GUY's slowness problem was caused by an application program running on the system. This was hard to detect because this was one instance of an application program that is often running on SSCC computers. This particular program is no longer running on SSCC UNIX systems and SSCC staff will be working with DEC and the application provider to find a permanent resolution to the problem.