ClarITy Working to make Information Technology clear

Transcription

1 INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY SERVICES ClarITy Working to make Information Technology clear Inside this issue: Volume 1, Issue 1 Summer 2009 Oracle upgrade 2 Core Router upgrade 2 Welcome to ClarITy Information Technology Services is happy to provide you with the very first issue of our newsletter ClarITy. We plan on publishing new issues three times a year Summer, Fall and Spring. In addition we will also publish an annual edition which focuses on Student Orientation and will be geared to in-coming students. We hope you will find ClarITy informative, educational and fun. Please feel free to send your feedback, suggestions and comments to us via at helpdesk@plymouth.edu. Pay-2-Print ready to go PSU Chooses New Anti-virus Software The Telecom System and Voic upgrade What are phishing scams and how can I avoid them? Summer-time is Project-time at ITS and the Summer of 2009 is no exception. Each of the various ITS workgroups are working to make upgrades to a variety of database, network, telecom, and desktop systems. Be sure to consult the ITS Projects Calendar below and the information contained in this newsletter to familiarize yourself with any Planned Service Outages. Finally, should you have questions or concerns or if you need additional information, we are always here to help. Simply call us (603) or stop by the Information Desk in the library. Have a great Summer! ITS Summer Project Calendar Sunday, June 21st Oracle upgrade to databases which support myplymouth Services Summer-time is Projecttime in Information Technology Services Summer classroom & cluster upgrades 5 Sunday, June 28st 6 am - 10am Late June, early July (date tentative) Upgrade to Hyde Hall Core Router Systems Teams begin to deploy new Avira Anti-virus to PSU owned computers How well do you know your ITS colleagues? 6 July 1st July 3rd and 4th Summer upgrades to clusters and classrooms begin Helpdesk is Closed in observance of Independence day July 31st (date tentative ) Upgrade to telephone system and voic system. Early August Telecom moves to Highland Hall basement August Helpdesk Student Training Week August 29th Helpdesk Closed for pre-fall semester break

2 Page 2 ClarITy June 21st Oracle Upgrade On Sunday, June 21 st the MIS team will be performing an Oracle upgrade to the servers which host various PSU databases. This upgrade is part of the preparations taking place for the Banner 8 upgrade scheduled for mid-october. The Oracle upgrade on June 21st is part of the preparations taking place for the Banner 8 upgrade this Fall. During the upgrade, access to myplymouth and Zimbra mail will be intermittent. Access to the various services which reside within myplymouth will be unavailable. This includes access to services such as Banner INB, PSC1, Banner Courtyard, Banner Student, Blackboard and R-25. The entire upgrade is planned to occur within the normal Sunday maintenance window from 6 am 10 am. Should you encounter any problems accessing these services after 10 am, please contact the Helpdesk for assistance. We can be reached at (603) or via at helpdesk@plymouth.edu Hyde Core Router Upgrade tentatively scheduled for June 28th Networking Team will be replacing the Hyde Hall Core Network Router which manages all PSU network traffic, including internet access. The upgrade is tentatively scheduled for Sunday June 28th and timing is dependant upon the pre-requisite electrical work being completed on time. This upgrade is part of the on-going 5-year campus network infrastructure replacement cycle and is necessary in order to replace aging equipment. During the upgrade, all campus Internet access will be down. This includes all internet traffic in and out of the campus and in all campus buildings. The entire upgrade is planned to occur within the normal Sunday maintenance window from 6 am 10 am. Should you encounter any problems accessing network services after 10 am, please contact the Helpdesk for assistance. We can be reached at (603) Pay-to-print ready to go Work on the PSU Pay-2-print program is now complete and beginning on July 1st, the e- commerce portion of the PSU pay-2-print system will be in place located on the main welcome page in the Go-Sidebar under the Dashboard heading. Pay-2-Print was implemented as a way to increase awareness of wasteful printing Students who exceed their $20 (approx 400 b/w page) print quota each semester are now able to purchase additional printing privileges online at their convenience. This service is available 24/7 and students will no longer be required to visit the helpdesk in order to increase their print quota. Questions about the Pay-2-Print program should be addressed to the ITS helpdesk at the main Information Desk in the library or by calling (603)

3 Volume 1, Issue 1 Page 3 Telecom to upgrade telephone system and voic In late July or early August the Telecom Team will be doing a full upgrade to the telephone system and voic system. This upgrade, tentatively scheduled for July 31st, is required to replace aging telephone infrastructure and is part of the phased integrated messaging project begun last summer with 5-digit dialing and virtual voic for students. In order to minimize the impact to the campus, this upgrade will take place beginning at 5 pm on a Friday evening and will continue into the early hours on Saturday morning. Auto-attendant greetings will require a new recording. Telecom will contact the administrator of each auto-attendant with information and instructions. All other recorded messages and greetings will be carried over to the new system. The upgrade to the voic system will allow Telecom to offer additional voice messaging features in the near future. However, It is important to understand that during the upgrade all telephone and voic services will be down, including telephone access to 911. Look for additional information via and posted in myplymouth as the update date draws closer. Questions about the upgrade and the related outage should be addressed to the Telecom office at (603) or via at networking@plymouth.edu. PSU chooses new Anti-virus software. Information Technology Services has decided not to renew the Institution s license with McAfee anti-virus and in exchange has selected Avira as its new supported anti-virus client for all PSU owned equipment. The change to Avira was based upon many factors, including a forecasted $25,000 cost savings over the course of the 3 year license. The Systems Team tested a variety of anti-virus clients and found Avira to be the most effective at providing all-around protection at a cost effective price. In addition, Avira was highly rated by AV-Comparatives, an Austrian Non-Profit-Organization, which is highly regarded in the technology arena for providing independent anti-virus software evaluations and making them publically accessible. The Systems Team will begin deploying Avira to PSU owned machines via the network at the end of June. Users will know that Avira has been installed when they see the Avira Red Umbrella icon on their desktops. Avira has been selected as the ITS supported anti-virus on PSU owned equipment. In addition, PSU students are no longer required to have McAfee anti-virus on their computers in order to connect to the PSU network, and now may choose from a list of more than 50 popular anti-virus clients. Questions about the anti-virus solutions should be addressed at the ITS helpdesk at the main Information Desk in the library or by calling (603)

4 Page 4 ClarITy What are phishing scams and how can I avoid them? What is Phishing? Phishing is an attempt to trick you into doing something you don't want to do. Phishing s try to coerce you into giving away your most valuable information bank account numbers, credit card numbers, passwords, social security number, even your mother's maiden name. The people behind phishing scams want your personal info, and they're willing to go to great lengths to trick you into handing over your identity. Phishing Scams Lead to Identity Theft Phishing scams often arrive as cleverly disguised s. They may appear to be sent by trustworthy companies like ebay, PayPal, your local bank, or even the University helpdesk. According to Webopedia.com, "phishing is a variation on fishing, the idea being that bait is thrown out with the hopes that while most will ignore the bait, some will be tempted into biting." Phishing Facts Approx. 59 million phishing s are sent each day. - 1 in 6 are opened. - In 2006, the average loss per victim was $1244 Phishing s may make threats like "Attention! Your account has been violated!" or "If you choose to ignore our request, we have no choice but to suspend your account." These matters seem urgent and unless you recognize the as a phishing scam, you might fall victim to it. From to the Web Clicking a link in a phishing typically takes you to fake website. The phishing site is designed to look like a company's real website. The phishing site may even link to the official site and may use the same graphics, colors, and logos. This is all done to lull you into a false sense of security. An online web form used in a phishing scam asks for your personal info. They want anything you'll give them, including your bank account numbers, credit card numbers, social security number, passwords, etc. Once they have this information, they might use it to apply for new credit cards, run up bills on your existing cards, or take out loans in your name. How to Recognize Phishing Scams How can you tell the difference between a phishing scam and a legitimate or website? Unfortunately, phishing scams are becoming more and more sophisticated and increasingly difficult to identify. However, there are several strategies you can use to recognize phishing scams. Be skeptical. Since you know phishing scams are out there, be skeptical of s you receive. Most companies don't wait until the last minute to spring emergencies like this on their customers. They send several notices, often times through the regular mail, or they call to warn you of potential security breaches. If you get s like this, look for clues that they might be fakes. Verify the web address and address. Checking the addresses is a good way of discovering a scam. If the first part of the web address consists of numbers, the site should probably not be trusted. For example, this is an untrustworthy address: Even though "ebay" is part of the address, the first part contains numbers (called an IP address). This is a sign that something may not be right. Look for signs of security. Real corporate websites use secure, encrypted web pages any time their customers are asked to send personal and financial information. Look for " in the web address. The "s" stands for "secure.

5 Volume 1, Issue 1 Page 5 Phishing Continued Also look for a locked padlock icon in the lower part of your browser window. The locked padlock icon indicates the site is encrypted, which means your data is protected when you send it over the Internet. If you don't see these signs, then the site could be a fake. Look for fishy details. Most legitimate corporate s and websites look professional. Phishing scams try to fool you, but like a photocopied dollar bill, they just don't look right. Look for bad grammar, bad spelling, and bad design. If your instincts tell you something's fishy, it probably is. Phishing scams are becoming more sophisticated each day, so this is not a sure-fire way of sniffing out a fake, but it's still a good place to start. Make a few phone calls. Before you click any links or fill out any forms, call the company and don't use the phone number in the . Get a real person on the phone to help you verify the legitimacy of the you received. If you can't reach a company representative by phone, call the Help Desk at The following sites have good information on phishing and reporting phishing scams: Anti-Phishing Working Group. Consumer Advice: How to Avoid Phishing Scams. 15 June < Federal Trade Commission (FTC). October How Not to Get Hooked by a Phishing Scam. 15 June < Never share your PSU password with anyone! ITS will never ask you for this information via an . Microsoft. October 15, Recognize phishing scams and fraudulent s. 15 June < Summer Classroom and Computer lab upgrades Multimedia classrooms and computer labs play an important role in the curriculum here at PSU. and it is important that our classrooms and computer labs be maintained and kept operational in order to support teaching. While some upgrades have been deferred until winter break and the spring semester, the following is a list of the classrooms and computer clusters which will receive technology upgrades this summer. Multimedia Classrooms: Hyde 113, Hyde 114, Hyde 115, Hyde 117, Hyde 213, Hyde 214, Hyde 215, Hyde 216, Hyde 217, Hyde 316, Hyde 318, Hyde 327, and Hyde 435J, Computer Labs: Lamson 030, Writing Center, Learning Commons MPC, Lamson Lower Level, Rounds 105, Memorial 312, Hyde 349/327, Boyd 117, Boyd 303 Some classroom and computer lab upgrades will be deferred until winter break or after the end of the Spring semester. Questions about the summer technology upgrades should be directed to the ITS helpdesk at (603) or via at helpdesk@plymouth.edu.

6 ITS: Partners in reliable, innovative technology and services. INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY SERVICES Plymouth State University Information Technology Services 17 High Street, MSC #28 Plymouth, NH Phone: Fax: Information Technology Services (ITS) provides the technological infrastructure, applications and support for learning, teaching, research and administration at the University. ITS units are comprised of the Help Desk at the Learning Commons, academic computing, network, administrative systems, telecommunications, training and desktop support and the computer repair center. ITS also supports myplymouth, a web portal through which courses, communications and online services are available. Have questions or need help? the helpdesk at helpdesk@plymouth.edu or call us at (603) infotech/index.html How well do you know your ITS colleagues? There are 35 PSU employees who work for Information Technology Services. Can you guess which ITS staff member these facts pertain to? His hometown is in Connecticut He is the oldest of three children He built volcanoes in his backyard as a kid His first car was a red 1966 Saab He worked as a paperboy while in high school He has appeared in one theatrical production He is a PSU Alumnus Stumped? Look for the answer in the Fall issue of ClarITy!