Six Deadly Internet Sins
By: Tom Kobelt

Christian educators are faced with the dual challenge of meeting or exceeding current educational content standards as well as ensuring that the content does not violate our shared Christian values.

One battlefront where I see this appear is the use of Internet technology in the school. We don't want our children left behind in the delivery of education; however, there is the very real threat of having the entire content of the Internet available at your student's fingertips.content that would be kept behind the counter, on high shelves or in a restricted area of a store is available at the click of a mouse. Illegal content, such as hate, can be stumbled upon during a research project. Anyone who has a teenager and a computer at home knows how they can spend hours on the computer. The games and other content on the Internet can be addictive. Not only is this a problem for students, it is a problem for teachers, pastors and staff of any organization.

One option in the use of Internet technologies in the school is just not to allow it. There may be enough concerns, and not enough knowledge at the school level, to deal with the issue. Most teachers I dialogue with would confess that teenagers know more about the computer and the Internet than they do. If the school does not have the trained staff or resources, then the use of the Internet would only be in the homes of kids who have access to it. While this is a safe option, it does not allow us to fully equip students for the world they are about to face. Somewhere, we need to provide the training on the technology and discuss the issues in the use of technology. Either in church or school, we need to address the lifestyle issues and consequences of the choices we make. I believe we need to raise these issues with our kids at an appropriate time and place along with many other topics. The use of the Internet is just another topic.

I believe that Christian education means a complete and quality education; therefore, we have to address bringing Internet technology to the school and classroom. In a small school, the computers can be installed in the library or a computer lab, where there are adults to guide, monitor and assist. In some schools, the computers are in all the rooms or computers are too numerous to depend on adult supervision. In any case, with the implementation of the computer Internet technology, I have adapted six deadly sins for Christian school use.

1. No Appropriate Firewall
A firewall can either be hardware or software that puts a barrier between you and the network. In our case, the network is the Internet; however, a firewall can also be used internally to stop students from "hacking" into the administration computer to their marks. The first "sin" is not to have a firewall at all. If you are on a high-speed
Internet connection, you have a permanent connection to the Internet and a doorway to the Internet. A firewall is one way to close and lock the doors, allowing only the traffic that you want to come in or go out of the gate to the Internet.

2. No Virus Protection
Most people know that they should have an anti-virus program. An anti-virus program can be running at the "gate" or on the computer. Most viruses come as an attachment in e-mail. The advantage of having an anti-virus program "at the gate" is that the mail never gets to your desktop. What is meant by "at the gate" is the anti-virus program runs on an e-mail server or Internet gateway (firewall) server and screens the e-mail and quarantines the e-mail before it ever has a chance to get to your desktop. Having anti-virus "at the gate" is good, but it is not enough. It can be like the Maginot Line. All of the defenses were lined up against a particular ground attack, and the Germans just went around the line. In the same way, viruses can be spread via a diskette, CD-Rom, or another computer on the network. So an anti-virus program should be running on your PC and every other point of entry on the network.

In selecting an anti-virus program, it is important to consider that the program is only as good the company behind it. It is pointless to have an anti-virus program if the pattern files are not kept up to date. The anti-virus program will not prevent the damage done from a brand new virus, but it will detect, notify and quarantine any known virus. The
catalogue of known viruses is kept in the "pattern files" that are built for each anti-virus program. If the company is not up-to-date on the latest viruses, or if your computer does not get the latest pattern files, it is about as effective as having no anti-virus protection at all.

3. Unnecessary Services Turned on or Not Blocked
Blocking or turning off unnecessary services is not just an issue for the Internet, it is also an issue for your PC on any network. An example of this sin is having turned on the share on the hard drive of your PC. This gives anyone on the network the ability to read or even write to your hard drive. If you want to share files with your colleagues, perhaps a shared drive mapped to the server with all of the other relevant documents can be stored there. Do you really intend to share next week's exam with your students? It would be better to put these items securely on the school server.

For school servers, ensure that only the services you want made available to the Internet are turned on. While your server can host Web pages, don't turn on the HTTP server unless you intend to host Web pages and want to deal with the security patches and monitoring that is required to run the services securely on your server. This applies for
all other services available on your network.

4. Patches Not Installed or Not Set Properly
Microsoft software bears the brunt of criticism for security holes and patches. In the ultimate goal of making the computer easy to use, some of these features have been used against users to cause pain and loss of data. A script or macro can be written to run in an Excel spreadsheet or an executable program can be written to clear a directory. If Microsoft Outlook is configured to automatically execute the attachment of a new virus, it will execute the function good or bad. Any popular software program can be a target for hackers. If there are many users of the software, then there is a knowledge base to find and exploit a vulnerability in the software. As a hole is found, we hope that the software publisher issues a fix or patch to correct the problem. Critical software patches should be reviewed and then applied, as it is applicable.

5. Unnecessary and Unrestricted Web Surfing
This is an issue for staff as well as students. Where you go and what you do on the Internet has a direct impact on everyone else on the network. It can be a small problem of taking all of the bandwidth for streaming video or audio or it can be more serious such as downloading a virus. Somewhere in between and very common is downloading "spyware." Spyware is software that records all of your Internet movements and then sends that information back to the collection point. This information is then used for whatever "marketing" purposes that the sponsor of the program desires. While spyware may be harmless, it does reduce the effectiveness and performance of your system.

There are a number of studies that would suggest that 10 percent or more of a person's time could be wasted doing non-work related matters on the Internet. Depending on the sites that are visited, the time spent is a drag to personal productivity and network security and is a violation of workplace standards. A firewall with a content filter, or a separate content filter, can be installed to flag inappropriate surfing.

6. Lack of Adequate Security and Access Policies
We know all the things we should not do, but we still do it. Don't write down computer passwords and keep it near the computer or use passwords that are easy to guess. Also, don't use your first name for the user id and the password. It would be like putting the key under the welcome mat to front door and to make sure people find it, stick a note on the door telling them the key is under the mat.

Basic security policies should be set up for computer access and privacy. Get advice from a computer consultant on the best ways to secure your systems and data and then follow it. Ensure that your staff has an understanding of how their actions can compromise the security of your computers.

While the Internet is a second home for some, it is a foreign country for others. Our kids can pick up technology faster than they can pick up a second language. As parents and educators, our responsibility is to thoughtfully introduce them to the Internet. I would ask that we consider the risks and temptations around the Internet and build policies and use technology to ensure that our kids' time at school and on the Internet is well spent.

om Kobelt is the Business Manager for ACTS Seminaries, the graduate theological school of Trinity Western University . He is also the vice president of KDI.