Archive for 2012

December 2012 - secureCI Monthly Security Newsletter Now Available

by in , ,

secureCI, CI's monthly information security awareness newsletter is now available for viewing. Please follow this link to view the December issue of secureCI.

Are you a hacker's target?

by in , , , ,

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.


3D Printing

by Anonymous in , ,

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. 


To see how interest has grown recently, I decided to go to Google Trends (an excellent resource as well!) and type in "3D Printer". The results are shown below. I think I'm on to something! Now I have a topic, but I still have to write....

Don't click the "unsubscribe" link at the bottom of unsolicited emails

by in , , , ,


Spam filters do a good job of catching most unwanted e-mail, but some might still reach you.  Most spam is designed to get you to respond with your own email or to click a link to "unsubscribe".  When you respond or click the "unsubscribe" link, the sender can take your email address and add it to a SPAM database of active email addresses.  You might then start receiving large amounts of SPAM in your inbox.  To be on the safe side, don't respond or click the "unsubscribe" links on any unsolicited emails.

Important notice regarding student Dolphin Email and CI Docs

by in , , , , ,


Earlier today, the Division of Technology & Communication (T&C) became aware of an email addressing issue in Dolphin Email. The problem was introduced as a result of changes made during the launch of CI’s new document collaboration service, CI Docs.

This change created some confusion for students using Dolphin Email, resulting in some students sending emails to faculty email addresses that do not exist. To immediately reduce confusion at this critical time of the semester, this evening (Wednesday, December 5, 2012), T&C will disable the global address list within all Dolphin Pod services, including CI Docs and Dolphin Email.

When sending email from Dolphin Email, please remember that all official CI faculty and staff email addresses end in “@csuci.edu, and all student email addresses end in “@myci.csuci.edu”. There are no faculty or staff email addresses that end in “@myci.csuci.edu”.

You can check for correct student, faculty and staff email addresses in the CI Campus Directory, or by replying directly to an email sent to you from the person you are trying to contact. Dolphin Email users can also check their “Sent Mail” to verify that email has been sent to the intended email address.

In addition, this change will temporarily eliminate the ability to look up faculty & staff user names for document sharing in CI Docs, although it does not otherwise restrict document sharing functionality with faculty and staff in any other way. We are working on resolving this issue and will provide further updates on this blog.  

T&C is committed to providing easy-to-use services to our community, and we apologize for any confusion or inconvenience this issue may have caused.

Please contact the T&C Help Desk via email at helpdesk@csuci.edu or call 805-437-8552 with any further questions about Dolphin Email, CI Docs or Dolphin Pod.

A. Michael Berman, Ph.D.
VP for Tech & Comm, CSU Channel Islands

Test post 2012-12-01

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.

Protecting Your System and Your Network

by in , , , , ,

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.

Network GroupShares Now Available

by in , ,


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:

  1. Double click on the drive you're trying to access (H:\, G:\, or Z:\). If you can't see your files after this; 
  2. Reboot your computer. 
Thank you for your patience while T&C resolved this issue.

Network Groupshares Remain Unavailable

by in , , ,

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.

Network Groupshares Currently Unavailable

by in , , ,

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.

November 2012 - secureCI Monthly Security Newsletter Now Available

by in ,

secureCI, CI's monthly information security awareness newsletter is now available for viewing. Please follow this link to view the November issue of secureCI.

CI Docs launched - new document sharing and collaboration service

by in , , , , ,


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:

  1. Create, collaborate and share documents with just your web browser. With CI Docs, members of the CI community can create and collaborate on documents, spreadsheets and presentations in real-time, using only a web browser; no additional software is required.
  2. Control how you share your documents. CI Docs users can share their documents with friends, other students, faculty and colleagues outside of CI, while controlling access to view and edit as desired.
  3. Access documents anywhere and anytime. Students & employees can access CI Docs using any computer with a modern web browser (such as Google Chrome, Firefox, Safari, or Internet Explorer)  including mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets. Forgot your thumb drive at home? No problem; files stored in CI Docs live "in the cloud", and can be accessed from anywhere you have internet access and a modern browser.
  4. Lots of free storage and many supported file types. Each CI Docs user can store up to 5GB of documents right from their web browser, and CI Docs users can view over 15 popular file formats.
  5. Convert Microsoft Office files for real-time collaboration. Just upload your documents to CI Docs, and choose the option to convert when prompted. You're now ready to share the document and collaborate with friends and colleagues online and in real-time. Certain restrictions to real-time collaboration do apply
Ready to get started? Just login to myCI, and click the "CI Docs" link.

To learn more, please visit the CI Docs web site. As always, if you experience problems or need help, please contact the T&C Help Desk at helpdesk@csuci.edu or call 805-437-8552.

Beware of Phishing Scams!

by in , ,

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!

Partial Email Outage, Thursday, 11/1/2012

by Anonymous in , ,


Our campus staff and faculty email system was unavailable for some users for several hours this morning, Thursday November 1. The cause was an unusually large volume of email which filled up some of the disk storage assigned to the system. Once the problem was identified, Technology & Communication staff members were able to clear out the storage so that the system could resume normal operation. While some members of our community were inconvenienced, we don’t believe that any email was lost. The problem was fully resolved before 9 AM.

The campus email system is one of our most critical technology services. We consider any unanticipated down time to be unacceptable, and we apologize for the inconvenience that you may have experienced. Please be assured that we will analyze the cause of this outage and take steps to reduce the likelihood of similar problems in the future.

Michael Berman, VP for Technology & Communication

Don't Use Unauthorized Software!

by in ,

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.

CI Learn and Hurricane Sandy

by Anonymous


As we watch to see the full impact of Hurricane Sandy, I wanted to let you know that there is a small chance that it could have a direct impact on campus. CI Learn is hosted by Blackboard at their data center in Northern Virginia. While the Blackboard data center is extremely robust and well-equipped for emergencies, there’s always the possibility of a disruption to their services, including potential failure of telecommunications circuits in the area. Blackboard maintains multiple backup locations on 4 continents, so I am confident that even if we have an outage that we will lose little or none of our campus data. If we receive any indications of a major problem with this service or any other, we will of course let you know.

Securing Your Home Network - Some Common Mistakes

by in


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.

BEWARE of Phishing Scams!

by in , ,


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!

October 2012 - secureCI Monthly Security Newsletter Now Available

by in , ,

secureCI, CI's monthly information security awareness newsletter is now available for viewing. Please follow this link to view the October issue of secureCI.

Should I Click on that Link?

by in


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.

Online payment is here!

by in , , , , , , ,


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.

If you get up from your computer, lock it!

by in


"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.

What technology projects are we working on?

by in ,

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.

Project Management Update September 2012

For a list of current projects and more information about our process, please visit the T&C Projects web site.

The Information Technology Strategic Plan provides further insight into how these projects support our overall strategy of creating a more mobile-friendly, paper-less, and secure campus computing environment.

Feel free to contact Peter Mosinskis at peter.mosinskis@csuci.edu with any questions.

Don't Click to Agree without Reading the Small Print!

by in

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.

Beware of Phishing Scams!

by in

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.



New online payment service is coming

by in , , , , ,

(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.


Eight Tips for Creating Bulletproof Passwords

by in

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! 

Never use words found in a dictionary, even written backwards, in another language, or with a simple number following.

Personal is Predicable! 
Anyone who knows you could guess your password if it uses your name or username, birthday, pet or favorite team, band or movie.

Size Matters! 
The longer the better. Passwords should be at least 8-14 characters and mix upper and lowercase letters, special characters and numbers.

Hooked on Mnemonics! 
Try working a mnemonic phrase into your password. For example, “Theres no place like home” would be translated to “TNPLH”.

Sell-By-Dates. 
Change passwords for online bank or credit card accounts every 1 to 2 months; others are good for maybe a few months. Mark your calendar.

To each his own. 
Don’t use the same password or similar patterns (word plus repeated number for example), so one cracked password doesn’t unlock all accounts.

Keep it secret, keep it safe. 
You would think people wouldn't need to be reminded of this but....  Don’t share passwords or store them on your computer or mobile device. The best place to store them is in your head or a locked safe.

PASSWORD is not a password. 
If an admin sets your password to PASSWORD change it FAST!

September 2012 - secureCI Monthly Security Newsletter Now Available

by in

secureCI, CI's monthly information security awareness newsletter is now available for viewing.  Please follow this link to view the September issue of secureCI.

CI Docs is coming!

by in , , , , ,

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.


School of Ed iPad day

by Anonymous in , , , ,

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.

T&C Update

by Anonymous in

T&C Update - Presented to the Operations Work Group, 8/13/2012

  1. Our new T&C website is now available at http://www.csuci.edu/tc/    
  2. Most of the T&C Division is getting ready to move to the second floor of Solano in early Fall. Look for a fantastic "housewarming" party some time in October.
  3. Strategic plan complete -  http://www.csuci.edu/tc/strategy/
  4. We are in the planning phase for computer refresh for 2012-13 
  5. Issues for investigation/discussion this year: supporting document workflow; integrating email; redesign of commencement activities
Some of our big projects going on now include:
  • Main website redesign
  • Coordinating and communicating 10th anniversary activities 
  • Calendar - 25live
  • Wireless upgrades
  • Support for SCCUR conference
  • Changes in our server architecture
You can always find information on our ongoing projects at http://www.csuci.edu/tc/projects/

August 2012 - secureCI Monthly Security Newsletter Now Available

by in


secureCI, CI's monthly information security awareness newsletter is now available for viewing.  Please follow this link to view the August issue of secureCI.

Secure your Wireless Router

by in


When setting up a wireless network at home, I was surprised to be able to connect to my neighbor's unsecured wireless router.  Not only could I have used his bandwidth for free, but had I been so inclined, I could have used the connection for illegal activities.  If the police came looking, he may not have been able to prove the activity didn't come from one of his computers. Properly securing wireless is not hard.  Look in the manual for changing the SSID to something unique, turning on WPA (avoid WEP) for authentication and TKIP for encryption, and using MAC address filtering. 

Check and make sure your friend really did send that great screensaver

by in


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.       

Don't Trust Links Sent in Email Messages

by in


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.       

Security Awareness Tip of the Week!

by in


If you're not sure you've seen an incident, report it anyway

Most security folks (and IT folks, for that matter) would rather hear about a problem from you than to figure it out afterwards while troubleshooting a system failure. If a phone call from User Support doesn't sound quite right, if a common email announcement is just a little off, or if a caller on the phone is too stressed to remember his or her password — don't be pressured and don't be rushed. Rush and pressure are among the "social engineering" hacker's best tools. Ask for help! Call your supervisor, call your IT group, and call your InfoSec group on the spot for assistance. You are as responsible (or more) to the whole company as you are to the one person on the phone! Don't let one person's stress jeopardize the organization's information security.

Bill Ochs named 2012 T&C Tech-E award winner

by Anonymous in , ,

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:

  • You won't find a person with a better attitude - whether it's a faculty, staff or student asking the same question for the 100th time or being called to work in an area outside of his normal scope.
  • I don't think "No" is in his vocabulary
  • Conveys passion and takes personal ownership towards the university…and strives to make a more accessible environment for everyone.
  • The most efficient worker I have ever had the pleasure of working with
  • His unending patience, good humor, creativity, and resourcefulness in accommodating our ever-changing needs is legend.
The photo above shows Bill(R) being presented the Tech-E trophy by Hai Le(L), last year's awardee. Congratulations to Bill for this recognition of his Extreme Service! 

Security Awareness Tip of the Week!

by in


Do not write your password down and leave it near your computer

Writing your password on a 'sticky-note' and sticking it on your monitor makes it very easy for people who regularly steal passwords to obtain yours.  Hiding it under your keyboard or mouse pad is not much better, as these are common hiding places for passwords.  However if you must write something down, jot down a hint or clue that will help jog your memory or store the written password in a secure, locked place.        

July 2012 - secureCI Monthly Security Newsletter Now Available

by in

secureCI, CI's monthly information security awareness newsletter is now available for viewing.  Please follow this link to view the July issue of secureCI.

Taking a look at printer/copiers

by Anonymous in

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.

If you print it, go get it right away!

by in


Don't leave important, sensitive, or confidential material lying around the office.  Common printing areas are frequented by people coming and going.  Often you'll be in line to pick up your documents and others may handle them before you.  This can lead to unnecessary information disclosures.  One manager had a print job disappear, and had e-mailed the whole floor about it.  The pages never turned up.  As a rule, always use the closest print station, or a dedicated printer for confidential information, and go get it right away!

When Should I Share my Password?

by in

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!

How Many Wires in a Wireless Building?

by Anonymous in ,

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.

Security Awareness Tip of the Week!

by in

Don't download sets of pictures from the Internet

A user downloaded a set of photos of pop icon Paris Hilton for her Windows desktop. Windows asked her to say yes to executing the file when she got it. Assuming it was just pictures, she agreed. Within a couple of hours, she knew something was wrong when her computer started to slow down to the point where she was unable to use it. Even when she rebooted, she couldn't launch her own programs. The IT department determined that she had downloaded a Trojan program along with the photo: her freebie photo had a malicious payload attached that used her computer to send out spam for a bad guy. Her computer had to be rebuilt to eliminate the program. She lost most of the day and a lot of her personal computer settings in the process.

Security Notice for LinkedIn Users

by in


Password Change Recommended

According to a message we’ve received from the CSU Virtual Information Security Center on Wednesday June 6th, as many as 300,000 LinkedIn passwords may have been compromised following an attack by Russian hackers.  If you use LinkedIn, we strongly recommend that you change your password immediately.

Security Awareness Tip of the Week!

by in

Don't tell anybody your password

This warning includes your systems administrator, who NEVER needs your password. One day I received an e-mail from "Support@Waidele.info", saying they needed my password for maintenance, and if I did not go to a webpage and give it to them, they would suspend my account. As it turns out, I'm the one in charge of "waidele.info" — so I'm the one who gives out accounts and does maintenance. Things might have ended differently if I had had an account with googlemail.com or aol.com. Then the senders would have called themselves "support@aol.com" and I might have been fooled.

Security Awareness Tip of the Day!

by in

Check for encryption or secure sites when providing confidential information online

Credit card and online banking sites are convenient and easy ways to purchase and handle financial transactions. They are also the most frequently spoofed or "faked" sites for phishing scams. Information you provide to online banking and shopping sites should be encrypted and the site's URL should begin with https. Some browsers have an icon representing a lock at the lower right of the browser window. For more information about phishing, please visit http://www.onguardonline.gov/phishing.html .

Security Awareness Tip of the Day!

by in

If you get up from your computer, lock it!

"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, a cracker 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.

Welcome to the new T&C Site!

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.

Interested in Teaching & Learning with Technology?

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!

"Who Needs a Data Center?"

by Anonymous in , ,

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!

IT strategic plan published; monthly discussion topics

by in ,


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.

Strategic plan update

by in , , ,

As the Division gets ready to publish updates to our IT Strategic Plan, we'd like to share some of the projects that we successfully completed since work in support of the plan began: 
  1. AV Summer Upgrades - upgrades of audio visual equipment in labs and classrooms during summer 2011
  2. BlackBoard/Moodle Pilot - completed hands-on comparison between 2 leading learning management systems. 
  3. Student Mobile Study - we assessed the mobile computing and communication needs of current and prospective CI students
  4. CI Learn Mobile - as a direct result of the student mobile survey, we launched mobile access to CI Learn. 
  5. CI Learn Provisioning - enabled seamless, automated provisioning of courses in CI Learn 
  6. Web sites redesigns: completed web site redesigns for the California Institute for Social Business,  the John Spoor Broome Library, the Nursing program, the Computer Science program, and Project ISLAS.
  7. Credential Tracker Field Experience - added new administrative functionality to the Credential information system
  8. Disaster Recovery Audit Response - successfully responded to outstanding audit items
  9. Dspace Makeover - work with the Chancellor's Office to re-skin Dspace institutional repository
  10. Extended University CRM Evaluation - evaluate several CRM systems for Extended University 
  11. Hardware Load Balancing - implement hardware load balancing for myCI
  12. HCM 9.0 Upgrade - upgrade CI Records/PeopleSoft to version 9
  13. Hershey Security - implement upgrades to Hershey security
  14. Hyperion Upgrade - implement system upgrade to Hyperion financials system
  15. IDM Improvements Spring 2011 - improve speed and accuracy of creation of Dolphin user accounts for employees 
  16. Project and Portfolio Management (PPM) Program - implemented a new program to improve quality and effectiveness of IT projects
  17. Wireless infrastructure upgrades in alignment with CSU Infrastructure Terminal Resources Project (ITRP)
  18. Launch Audible Magic to ensure compliance with DMCA and other peer-to-peer (P2P) file sharing  and copyright regulations
  19. Upgrade campus computers to Office 2010-2011
  20. One-Card Self-Service: through upgrades of card system infrastructure, DolphinOne cardholders can now access their card account online, view balances and add funds. 
  21. Student Directory - Students can now look up contact information of other students in the campus directory
  22. Student Financials Data Cleanup 
  23. Student Support Services (SSS) Application
  24. VNOC Preparation - complete re-IP of campus networks to prepare for CSU Virtual Network Operations Center (VNOC) integration
  25. WCM Migration - migrate from Serena Collage to echoCI and enable easier editing of University web pages
Each of these projects is a tactic undertaken to support one or more IT strategic initiatives in our plan. A tactics map (in MS Excel format) enables the Division to keep track of our accomplishments in support of the plan. By completing these tactics successfully, we're supporting strategies to help enhance the educational experience and support operations at the University. 

T&C web site progress

by in

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

by

Welcome to the new T&C News!

We'll be using this to post information about Division activities.