University of Colorado at Boulder faculty, staff and students now have access to one more tool in their fight against a daily deluge of computer viruses and worms. The campus has purchased and is making available antivirus software at no cost to all faculty, staff and students.
Antivirus software is one of the most important security tools for warding off computer viruses and worms and the campus now has access to a leading software product for work and home use, said Dennis Maloney, Information Technology Services executive director.
"IT security and related initiatives have become increasingly vital for the campus," Maloney said. "Providing this software is one important step toward increasing the level of overall campus security while helping departments reallocate the resources they were previously using to purchase this type of software."
Branded by the campus as CUantivirus, the software is a Computer Associates product called eTrust. The antivirus selection process took close to six months and the Computer Associates product was ultimately chosen because it met all of the necessary security criteria for the campus at a more affordable price per license. In addition, Computer Associates provided a licensing agreement customized to CU-Boulder's needs.
"CUantivirus will benefit CU-Boulder because it's a campuswide solution to the ever-increasing virus problem," said David Normann, ITS project manager and lead on the CUantivirus deployment. "Protecting against viruses helps make academic computing a safer and more effective experience for the entire campus."
ITS purchased the software by using existing funds earmarked for antivirus software in labs and in computers purchased through the Faculty Computer Purchase Program. A total of 32,000 licenses were purchased at a cost of 47 cents per license per year, and the contract will run for three years.
The software comes preconfigured so campus computer users don't have to worry about it again once it has been installed. It works with Windows (2000 and newer), Mac OS X and Linux operating systems, and is set up to scan against the most recent viruses and worms and alert users if it detects any on their computers or in their e-mail.
More information about CUantivirus can be found at .