Closing the browser window on your PC does not send any message to the web
server. The server can not know that you want to log out, it just doesn't
see any new requests and after some period of time it should give up
listening to your PC.
When you close all browser windows that are open, the "session cookie" is
reset so you can no longer get to the web server's private pages until you
log in again. When you log in, it creates a new "session cookie" on your
browser.
To protect your privacy, particularly on a computer shared with others and
when you access sensitive web pages, always log out and close all browser
windows. This applies to any use of the web at UTC, at home, or anywhere.
Web servers use various techniques to try to maintain security when a window
is closed, but actually the server can't know what you don't tell it.
Thanks,
Richard
Melissa Anyiwo wrote:
> Thanks for the responses from the computer people. Of course I wasn't
> suggesting that you guys were in some way responsible for this (or maybe I
> was if so I didn't mean to :)
>
> I'm sure I'm not the only non-computer person who thought that leaving the
> window was the same as logging off (after all it works for my bank site).
> In any event I now know what's causing the problem (or at least that it
> seems to be isolated to the podium) and the lovely computer guys will no
> doubt find a way to solve it.
>
> Cheers
>
> Melissa
>
>
> On 7/28/05 1:04 PM, "Fritz Efaw" <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>
>
>>Karen,
>>Thank you for the clarification. I have two questions for you, however:
>>
>>First, if a connection is lost, does this imply that a log off took place
>>automatically? If not, why not? If sometimes, when?
>>
>>And second, if a connection is inadvertently lost (e.g., because of a
>>momentary power outage, or because in frustration one decides to just turn
>>the damned machine off) what procedures are necessary to insure that full
>>log off was completed? Do we have to sign in, log ON to ONENET, Eudora,
>>Internet, Blackboard, etc., to check that we're not still logged on, and
>>then log OFF of each, one by one?
>>
>>Thanks for the help. I hadn't thought of this much in the past, but now
>>I'm confused.
>>Fritz.
>>
>>At 12:36 PM 7/28/2005 -0400, Karen I. Adsit wrote:
>>
>>>Good practices say that you should log out and close the browser (all
>>>the way). ALWAYS! Especially when you are using public computers
>>>(labs, podiums, etc.). This is not just an anomaly, but good
>>>practice for any application that protects confidential data.
>>>Karen
>>>
>>>At 11:51 AM -0400 7/28/05, Melissa Anyiwo wrote:
>>>
>>>>My students came to me today to point out an interesting anomaly with Onenet
>>>>and Blackboard that you might like to try out.
>>>>
>>>>If you log into either program and then exit the internet without logging
>>>>out, the next person to use either program is automatically taken to your
>>>>account.
>>>>
>>>>Rather 'disturbing' for those of us that use the podium systems everyday, I
>>>>suppose. It never even occurred to me that I had to log out of the program
>>>>as well as logging out the program.
>>>>
>>>>So if you get a nasty email from me addressed to the entire university
>>>
>>>community, it wasn't me I just forgot to log out of Onenet.
>>>
>>>--
>>>*** *** *** *** ***
>>>Karen I. Adsit, EdD, Director & Professor
>>>Walker Teaching Resource Center, Univ. of Tenn. at Chattanooga
>>>Dept. 4354, 615 McCallie Ave., Chattanooga, TN 37403
>>>423.425.4026 (voice) * 423.425.4025 (fax) * [log in to unmask] (e-mail)
>>>
>>>For UTC Teaching, Learning & Technology seminar topics, see
>>>http://www.utc.edu/TRC/
>>
>
>
--
Richard L Gambrell, Director of Computing Systems and Networks
Information Technology Division, University of Tennessee at Chattanooga
103 Hunter Dept 4454, 615 McCallie Ave, Chattanooga, TN 37403-2598
Fax: 423-425-4150 Problems: [log in to unmask] or 423-425-4000
Direct phone: 423-425-5316 IT Business Office: 423-425-1755
Urgent/cell: 423-432-5122 Main UTC phone: 423-425-4111
Email: [log in to unmask] or [log in to unmask]
|
