Malicious Website Protection Coming to Campus

The IT Security Office is implementing in phases a new security measure which will help protect the campus from websites that are known to contain malware and transmit data back to a hacker. On Tuesday, October 4, wireless web traffic from subnets that serve the East Campus will start routing through the new WSA (web security appliances) service. Then on Thursday, October 6, wireless traffic from the rest of campus will start routing through the WSA service. When the service is implemented at approximately 5:30 a.m. each morning, those using the affected portions of the wireless network at that time could notice a short disruption (less than 30 seconds) in their connections to off-campus websites when the traffic is moved to the WSA servers.

In the coming weeks this service will be rolled out in phases to protect both wired and wireless connections to off-campus websites. This work will be completed before the start of business hours each day and as the service is deployed, you could encounter short disruptions to off-campus websites if you happen to be connected at the time the service is implemented.

If you happen to encounter one of these blocked websites, a message will be displayed explaining why you cannot connect to the website. If you are blocked from visiting a website that you believe has been incorrectly identified as malicious, you should contact the IT Service Center at help@colorado.edu or call 303-735-4357 (5-HELP from a campus phone).