by Neal Fisch in awareness, newsletter, security
secureCI, CI's monthly information security awareness newsletter is now available for viewing. Please follow this link to view the December issue of secureCI.
by Neal Fisch in awareness, data security, phishing scams, privacy, security
Hackers are constantly trying to gather information about you for a variety of reasons. Find out what you can do to make it more difficult for them to success. Watch this short video courtesy of SANS Securing the Human to learn who is targeting you, how you're being targeted and why.
This video will be available through the end of December 2012.
by Anonymous in 3D Printing, Google Trends, technology trends
I've been asked to write a piece on technology trends for the coming year. I've been fascinated with 3D printing for a number of years. If you're not familiar with the term, the Wikipedia article on 3D printing is a good place to start.
by Neal Fisch in awareness, data security, email, phishing scams, security
by Peter Mosinskis, Director of IT Strategy in CI Docs, Dolphin Email, email, issue, mobile, sharing
by Anonymous
This is a retroactive test post, to test Blogger's capabilities. Please disregard. Please contact Peter Mosinskis at peter.mosinskis@csuci.edu with any questions.
by Neal Fisch in awareness, data security, email, infrastructure, phishing scams, security
In lieu of recent network cleanup activity I wanted to take this time to remind everyone of a couple of items that will help protect your system and your networks from virus attacks.
Attaching External Storage Devices
Before attaching any external storage devices to your computer whether it's a USB thumb drive or a large external hard drive, please run a virus scan on it before making the final connection. This will save you alot of grief in the long run.
Clicking on Unknown Links in Email
If you receive an email and are asked to click on a link, unless you're expecting to receive an email with a link you may want to contact the person who sent the email before clicking that link. The email could be a phishing or website spoofing scam that can either load unwanted malware or virus software onto your machine, or try and get you to give up personal information. In either case, making a short phone call or sending a quick text or email will be worth not having to rebuild you machine.
by Neal Fisch in downtime, outage, security
The personal network group fileshare (H:\ drives) have been restored and are now available. Within the next 20 minutes the remaining two fileshares (G:\ and Z:\ drives) will be released and be available as well. If you don't see your drive files right away you can try the following:
by Neal Fisch in downtime, infrastructure, outage, security
The issue has been researched and the resolution is currently being finalized. Once resolution finalization has been completed, the group fileshares (G:\, H:\, and Z:\ drives) will be made available. The next status update will be at 2:00 PM.
by Neal Fisch in downtime, infrastructure, outage, security
The following network groupshare drives are currently offline, G:\, H:\ and Z:\ drives. T&C Infrastructure is currently researching the issue. Please navigate to the T&C Information Security web page for status updates. The next update is scheduled for 1:00 PM unless the issue is resolved before then.
by Neal Fisch in awareness, security
secureCI, CI's monthly information security awareness newsletter is now available for viewing. Please follow this link to view the November issue of secureCI.
by Peter Mosinskis, Director of IT Strategy in CI Docs, cloud, collaboration, paperless, productivity, teaching and learning with technology
In August, we posted an announcement about CI Docs, a new service for students, faculty and staff that makes sharing and collaborating on documents faster and easier than ever.
We're very pleased to welcome CI Docs, powered by Google Apps for Education, as the newest member of a growing family of technology services focused on collaboration, mobility and productivity.
Here are the top 5 benefits of using CI Docs:
We've all received them, emails from a seemingly trusted source like a bank, delivery company or even your own place of employment, claiming there was some type of issue or another requiring you to offer up some personal information or click on a link or button to help clear the issue up. If you receive an email of this sort DO NOT CLICK ON ANY LINK OR OFFER UP ANY INFORMATION!
This is a common form of security attack called a phishing or spear phishing scam.
Groups attempting to steal personal information will often use e-mails that appear to originate from a trusted source to try and trick a user into entering valid credentials at a fake website. Typically the e-mail and the web site look like they are part of a bank or some other organization the user is doing business with.
If you receive any email asking for personal information or to click on a link and you think it may be fraudulent, please report it immediately to the T&C Helpdesk at X8552 or helpdesk@csuci.edu. They will assist you and instruct you on how to remove it effectively.
Remember... nobody from T&C will ever ask you for any personal information, including your password!
by Neal Fisch in data security, security
It may be tempting to download useful-looking software that you can get free on the Internet, but these tools may carry a hidden cost. Installing them may often cause other programs to stop working which and when reported, it can take a long time for our T&C teams to track down the problem. More seriously, they can display unwanted ads, slow your PC down or make it less secure by letting the computer download more ads from the Internet. Most seriously, they can be infected by viruses or spyware that are intended to damage your computer or steal confidential information. If you find software that you feel will benefit your department or the University, please contact the T&C Helpdesk (x8552 or helpdesk@csuci.edu) and request a software evaluation.
by Anonymous
by Neal Fisch in security
October is National Cyber Security Awareness Month (NCSAM), and to help support cyber security awareness, the SANS Institute (www.sans.org) has posted a short online security awareness video covering the most common mistakes people make regarding their home networks, and what can be done to protect yourself and your family.
Please take the time to view this informative video.
We've all received them, emails from a seemingly trusted source like a bank, delivery company or even your own place of employment, claiming there was some type of issue or another requiring you to offer up some personal information or click on a link or button to help clear the issue up. If you receive an email of this sort DO NOT CLICK ON ANY LINK OR OFFER UP ANY INFORMATION!
This is a common form of security attack called a phishing or spear phishing scam.
Groups attempting to steal personal information will often use e-mails that appear to originate from a trusted source to try and trick a user into entering valid credentials at a fake website. Typically the e-mail and the web site look like they are part of a bank or some other organization the user is doing business with.
If you receive an email like this and you think it may be fraudulent, please report it immediately to the T&C Helpdesk at X8552 or helpdesk@csuci.edu. They will assist you and instruct you on how to remove it effectively.
Remember... nobody from T&C will ever ask you for any personal information, including your password!
by Neal Fisch in communication, new, security
secureCI, CI's monthly information security awareness newsletter is now available for viewing. Please follow this link to view the October issue of secureCI.
by Neal Fisch in security
We've all received them, emails from a seemingly trusted source like a bank or delivery company claiming there was some type of issue or another requiring you to offer up some personal information or click on a link or button to help clear the issue up. This is a common form of security attack call a phishing or spear phishing scam.
As October is National Cyber Security Awareness Month (NCSAM), to help support cyber security awareness, the SANS Institute (www.sans.org) has posted the five minute online security awareness video "Email and Instant Messaging" covering the risks of using these technologies (including phishing scams, infected attachments, and drive-by downloads), and the steps you can take to protect yourself. This video will be available through October 15th when a new video will replace it.
Please take the time to view this informative video.
by Peter Mosinskis, Director of IT Strategy in CashNet, collaboration, infrastructure, launch, mobile, payment, Paypal, service
As mentioned in a previous post regarding online payment, in cooperation with Budget and Fiscal Services, T&C is pleased to announce the launch of the CashNet eMarket service, the official online payment service of CI. CashNet eMarket is replacing existing campus PayPal accounts for taking online payment for events, products and services.
So far, eMarket has been deployed for 2 systems: online purchase of parking permits, and for registration for the upcoming SCCUR conference.
As of today, October 1, 2012, requests for new eMarket sites can be submitted by campus organizations to Budget & Fiscal Services. A full description of the process and the eMarket request form are available on the CashNet eMarket web site.
In addition, as of October 2, 2012, Student Business Services and Budget and Fiscal Services will no longer take requests for configuration of new PayPal online payment sites.
Over the course of the fall 2012 semester, Budget & Fiscal Services will work with programs and organizations that are using PayPal to migrate them to CashNet eMarket, with the goal of completing migration and conversion of all existing PayPal payment sites to eMarket sites by December 31, 2012.
Please contact cashnet@csuci.edu with any general questions about the new CashNet eMarket service, or CI's online payment functionality.
by Neal Fisch in security
"I sent an email to your boss letting him know what you really think of him". This Notepad message was on my screen when I got back to my cubicle after getting up to stretch my legs. What? I had been gone for 180 seconds -- three quick minutes. Lucky for me, the note turned out to be from our systems administrator who wanted to make a point. All it takes is about one minute for a disgruntled colleague to send a message on your behalf to the boss and there is no way for you to prove you didn't send it. In about 30 seconds, someone could install a keystroke logger to capture everything you type including company secrets, user names and passwords. In about 15 seconds, a passerby could delete all your documents.
by Peter Mosinskis, Director of IT Strategy in projects, strategy
Do you know what technology projects the Division is working on, or how those projects are prioritized and scheduled? In January 2011, the Division began implementing a technology project and portfolio management (PPM) program in order to improve access to this information for the University community.
We're pleased to share a narrated video presentation (running time approx. 7 minutes) which provides some important updates about this program.
by Neal Fisch in security
Some free software passes your information on to advertisers, changes your PC or downloads other software without asking you. Some suppliers will claim that this is OK because you agreed to this. How? People often click on the "agree" button to accept 20 pages of difficult legal jargon they don't understand. But buried in the middle can be a sentence allowing the software to do whatever it likes. You can argue in court that the terms aren't reasonable, but then it will be too late — the damage has been done and your PC is broken. Learn from other people's pain: if terms and conditions are hard to understand, it is probably deliberate. If it isn't worth the trouble to read the conditions, don't risk using the software.
by Neal Fisch in security
We've all received them, emails from a seemingly trusted source like a bank or delivery company claiming there was some type of issue or another requiring you to offer up some personal information or click on a link or button to help clear the issue up. If you receive an email of this sort DO NOT CLICK ON ANY LINK OR OFFER UP ANY INFORMATION!
This is a common form of security attack call a phishing or spear phishing scam.
Groups attempting to steal personal information will often use e-mails that appear to originate from a trusted source to try and trick a user into entering valid credentials at a fake website. Typically the e-mail and the web site look like they are part of a bank or some other organization the user is doing business with.
If you receive an email like this and you are certain it is fraudulent, please report it immediately to the T&C Helpdesk at X8552 or helpdesk@csuci.edu. They will assist you and instruct you on how to remove it effectively.
by Peter Mosinskis, Director of IT Strategy in collaboration, infrastructure, mobile, payment, service, wireless
(Update 2012-10-01: the CashNet EMarket Service is now available. Read more...)
The ability to take payments online for campus events, goods and services has been a difficult issue for the campus over the last 10 years. Interim solutions, such as PayPal and RegOnline, have been useful for addressing the immediate need, but have failed to provide a standard, cost-effective platform for online payment that matches both growing campus need and requirements to integrate with key campus systems.
Since April of this year, T&C has been working closely with team members from Budget and Fiscal Services and Student Financial Services to develop and roll-out a new system for online payment.
The new system is called CashNet eMarket, and provides online payment functionality that has been requested by campus organizations. The eMarket system will replace existing campus PayPal accounts for taking online payment for events, products and services.
So far, eMarket has been deployed for 2 systems: online purchase of parking permits, and for registration for the upcoming SCCUR conference.
In conjunction with Budget and Fiscal Services, T&C is pleased to announce that eMarket will become available this fall for campus entities and organizations that wish to take payment for events, goods and services online.
As of October 1, 2012, requests for new eMarket sites can be submitted by campus organizations to Budget & Fiscal Services. A full description of the process and a request form will be posted to the CI eMarket web site (details forthcoming). It is expected that implementation for most basic eMarket sites will take 4-6 weeks per site; eMarket sites which require integration with other campus systems may take longer.
October 1, 2012 will also be the last day to request new PayPal online payment sites through Student Business Services.
Over the course of the fall 2012 semester, Budget & Fiscal Services will work with programs and organizations that are using PayPal to migrate them to eMarket, with the goal of completing migration and conversion of all existing PayPal payment sites to eMarket sites by December 31, 2012.
Please contact Melissa Bergem, Project Coordinator at melissa.bergem@csuci.edu with any questions about CashNet eMarket or the roll-out of this important new service.
by Neal Fisch in security
Strong passwords are an important way to protect your data from theft – and to avoid joining the more than nine million Americans victimized by identity theft each year. Darya Gudkova, head of content analysis and research for Kaspersky, also emphasizes the need for strong passwords. She recommends long passwords with a mix of different characters and letters. She also throws in several different languages to make her own passwords even tougher to crack. How do you create a bulletproof password that hackers can't crack? These tips from myID.com can help you set passwords that will keep your data stays secure.
Ban the basics!
by Neal Fisch in security
secureCI, CI's monthly information security awareness newsletter is now available for viewing. Please follow this link to view the September issue of secureCI.
by Peter Mosinskis, Director of IT Strategy in CI Docs, collaboration, communication, new, students, teaching and learning with technology
As you may know, Dolphin Email, our student email system, is powered by Google Apps for Education. Dolphin Email has made access to email for CI students more seamless and reliable. As part of Google Apps for Education, Dolphin Email provides greater storage capacity, seamless integration with key campus systems, a secure and stable infrastructure, and a user interface that is familiar to many students.
Students and faculty have been asking for faster and easier ways to share and collaborate on documents. To address this need, we're pleased to announce that this fall, the Division of Technology & Communication will be rolling out a new service called CI Docs.
CI Docs leverages the same Google Apps for Education platform used for Dolphin Email, and includes Google Drive and the Google Documents collaboration system. CI Docs will provide web-based document creation, real-time collaboration, and versatile sharing options for the CI community.
With CI Docs, students and faculty will be able to create and collaborate on documents, spreadsheets and presentations using only a web browser; no additional software will be required. In addition, CI Docs users will be able to share those documents with friends, other students, faculty and colleagues, and control access for viewing and editing of those documents.
CI Docs users will be able to upload and view many common file types to CI Docs using Google Drive. CI Docs even enables users to convert certain types of uploaded files (like Microsoft Office documents) to Google Docs format, which enables online, real-time collaboration.
In addition, students will be able to access CI Docs anywhere and anytime, including using mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets. Forgot your thumb drive at home? No problem; files stored in CI Docs can be accessed from anywhere you have access to a modern web browser, such as Google Chrome, Firefox, Safari, or Internet Explorer.
Initially, CI Docs will be available to CI students only, but we expect to make CI Docs available to faculty and staff later this fall.
To learn more about CI Docs features, please visit the Google Docs support web site. Stay tuned here for further announcements about this new service, and post your comments or questions here.
by Anonymous in academic, faculty, teaching and learning with technology, training, workshops
On Tuesday, August 21, the School of Education sponsored a workshop for faculty and others affiliated with the School of Ed to provide training and assistance on the use of iPads. The School is in the process of converting to a paperless, tablet-based process for managing the supervision of student teachers. With more than 40 attendees, the day was a big success. Thanks for AVP Gary Kinsey for the support, and to Jill Leafstedt and Chris Mattia for providing training and coordination.
by Anonymous in strategy
by Neal Fisch in security
secureCI, CI's monthly information
security awareness newsletter is now available for viewing. Please
follow this link to view the August issue of secureCI.
by Neal Fisch in security
by Neal Fisch in security
A common method of transmitting malware is by infecting some
unsuspecting user's computer and then using that computer to infect
others. One simple way to do this is for a hacker to hijack your
address book and send copies of the malware to everyone in that address
book. Of course, YOU need to be enticed to run the malware, and the
best way to do that is to fool you into thinking the attachment is
something else. If a friend or acquaintance sends you a "great
screensaver" or something like that, which you were not expecting, take a
few minutes to confirm that person really sent it. If they know
nothing about it, then delete the message.
by Neal Fisch in security
A common fraud, called "phishing", sends messages that
appear to be from a bank, shop or auction, giving a link to a fake
website and asking you to follow that link and confirm your account
details. The fraudsters then use your account details to buy stuff or
transfer money out of the account. These fake sites can be hard to spot,
so no reputable organization will send a message requesting your
confidential information.
by Neal Fisch in security
Bill Ochs, a member of the User Services Department, was awarded the 2012 Tech-E Award for Excellence in Service at the annual T&C BBQ in June. The Tech-E was created by Technology & Communication to honor a staff member who exemplifies our values of "Extreme Service".
Bill works primarily with the Extended University, supporting EU administrators and staff as well as faculty and students associated with EU courses. Bill has also taken a lead role in supporting Blackboard Collaborate, a tool for video collaboration, for the entire campus. He presented on a panel at EduSoCal '12, sharing best practices for helping faculty using Collaborate.
Tech-E award winners are nominated by members of the campus community. Some of the comments that the awards committee received about Bill included:
by Neal Fisch in security
by Neal Fisch in security
secureCI, CI's monthly information security awareness newsletter is now available for viewing. Please follow this link to view the July issue of secureCI.
by Anonymous in paperless
While the "Paper Less" campus is one of our signature initiatives for the IT Strategic Plan, nonetheless we continue to need printers and copiers to get our work done. With North Hall opening this summer, we need copiers in new locations - but at the same time, a reduction in printing and copying (a good thing!) has created a financial challenge because the amount of use isn't covering the cost of the equipment we already have. So we are working closely with Finance and Administration to reallocate existing equipment to meet the needs of our expanded footprint. At the same time, we're starting to evaluate the printer/copier market to determine how to best meet campus needs.
Do you have thoughts or ideas about how we use printer/copiers on campus and how we could be more efficient? Please, get in touch.
by Neal Fisch in security
by Neal Fisch in security
One day I received an e-mail from
"support@widgets.edu" to my current university email account, saying I had reached my limit on email storage and they needed my password for maintenance,
and if I did not go to a web page and give it to them, they would suspend
my account. Please be aware that staff members from T&C or any other department at CI will NEVER request that you send, transmit, email, enter into a link, or otherwise ask you for your password! If you encounter a request of this sort, please DO NOT offer your information. Delete the email or contact the Help Desk for guidance on what to do next.
So... when should you share your password? The answer to this question is always ... NEVER!
CI's West Hall, scheduled for completion in 2015, is in the early design phase now. Today a group us met with the architects to discuss our overall technology strategy for the building. We are proceeding on the assumption that there will be very few hard-wired network devices of any kind - nearly everything will be wireless. While we may need more wireless infrastructure than in our current buildings, reducing the number of hard-wired stations will reduce the construction cost, the electricity needs and the cooling requirements for the building, making it not only more usable, but "greener" at the same time. So while we will still need some wires in a "wireless" building, we're excited about building a new building with many fewer wires.
by Neal Fisch in security
by Neal Fisch in security
by Neal Fisch in security
by Neal Fisch in security
by Neal Fisch in security
by Anonymous
We are thrilled to be launching the new Technology & Communication web site! It's been a long time coming. Thanks to Ryan, Kevin, Daniel, Peter, and everyone else who contributed. We worked hard not just to make it beautiful, but to make sure you can find the information you need as easily as possible. Let us know - what do you think? You can drop me a line at michael.berman@csuci.edu.
by Anonymous
Jill Leafstedt started a "Scoop It" page on the topic of "Teaching and Learning with Technology" It's a place where she is posting links to interesting articles and other resources related to this topic. I'm also contributing items to the page. If this is a topic that is of interest to you, take a look!
by Anonymous in cloud, infrastructure, strategy
I'm presenting a webinar today entitled "Who Needs a Data Center? A Mixed Strategy for Cloud Migration in Higher Education." Take a look, live or archived!
by Peter Mosinskis, Director of IT Strategy in strategic planning, strategy
What will CI’s academic and information technology environment look like in 2 years? The recently published Information Technology Strategic Plan provides a glimpse into some of the technology changes that are coming to the University.
The plan is the result of 2 years of research and review with key campus stakeholders led by Vice President for Technology & Communication, Michael Berman. The plan describes the vision for information technology programs, products and services, and provides direction for how the Division will work towards achieving this vision through 2014, including plans for making the campus more “mobile” and “paper-less.”
The plan and accompanying exhibits can be viewed and downloaded from the T&C Strategic Planning and Assessment web site.
To facilitate ongoing and regular discussion of plan initiatives and strategies, T&C will provide a topic for discussion related to the strategic plan each month. The first monthly topic will be published shortly; in the meanwhile, we want to hear from you! Members of the CI community are encouraged to share their thoughts on the new plan by commenting on this blog and/or by sending an email to michael.berman@csuci.edu.
We look forward to working with you to achieve our vision of a collaborative, seamless and transparent academic and information technology environment at CSU Channel Islands.
by Peter Mosinskis, Director of IT Strategy in assessment, projects, strategic planning, strategy
A T&C team has been working to create an updated version of the T&C web site.
We're working hard to make it easier to find the information you're looking for.
Take a look at a sneak preview
Let us know what you think!
Welcome to the new T&C News!
We'll be using this to post information about Division activities.