Information Technology NWU Antivirus Policy and Info

1 Policy As from February 2011 the North-West University requires Security Essentials (MSE) as the only official, compulsory Antivirus solution on Windows computers for both personnel and students. This is a result of our regular revision of the anti-virus strategy, as well as the need for the alignment with the strategy for managing services (for example VPN users using their own computers and visitors requiring access from their own laptops).

2 Why MSE? Security Essentials provides a solid foundation and most of the other Anti-Virus products available could potentially work with it - without requiring a large amount of additional resources. It is amongst the top free Antivirus options available and it updates via our internal windows update server.

3 Only MSE Allowed? Internal users, who are not satisfied with having only MSE installed, may buy/install any of the following antivirus solutions in addition to MSE. These solutions will work via the proxy Server (for their updates) and can coexist with MSE: , Avira, AVG, Eset (Nod32 Antivirus), , Kaspersky and F-Secure. Avg, Avast and Avira Antivirus also have freeware versions available for private/home usage. Take note that Antivirus solutions by default do not coexist well on the same system/computer, and it is recommended that only one be installed (in addition to MSE). The licensing option when buying must be for “private/ personal use” only, as the University as an entity does not have an agreement for the usage of any product under the “Corporate” (or Enterprise) license heading. Please Note: ITC and Campus IT do not provide any support related to these other products. The management (installation and operation) of these “other” Antivirus products (as well as the handling of any errors that may result because of these installations) is the sole responsibility of the user that chose to install them.

4 Proxy Settings Any of the listed products installed - in addition to Microsoft Security Essentials - must be configured to work via the internal Firewall of the University. The proxy settings that are required and must be configured are as follows: PROXY Server for Potchefstroom campus and Institutional Office: cache1.p.nwu.ac.za PROXY Server for Vaal Triangle campus: cache1.v.nwu.ac.za PROXY Server for Mafikeng campus: cache1.m.nwu.ac.za Proxy Port: 80 Basic Authentication: Username and password as required to access the internet through the firewall.

5 Departmental Requests for a SINGLE SOLUTION Whenever a corporate, enterprise licensing option is considered (for example a large group/department of users requires the same product), ITC must be notified and a request must be made for the hosting of a centrally managed solution (in addition to MSE). The agreement for any such option must be communicated and ITC must also be involved in the approval process of determining the viability of such a request (in terms of capacity on the server-side as well as the internal agreement regarding the responsibility and support for a hosted solution).

NWU Antivirus Policy: February 2011 1