IT Matters

Zoom Provides Improved Communications through Video and Audio Web Conferencing

Are you trying to schedule a visiting class speaker? Do you find it difficult to interview a candidate living at a distance? If so, Zoom may be your solution! Zoom provides video and voice communication, along with screen sharing and many other features.

Sign up, it’s FREE

If you are looking to schedule a short meeting or webinar – you can open up a Zoom account on your own. Visit https://zoom.us/ to set up your account.

Free accounts consist of the following:

  • 40-minute time limit on meetings with 3 or more participants
  • Unlimited number of meetings
  • 100 participants maximum

Will your meeting exceed 40 minutes?

The University has an agreement with Zoom allowing licensed users to conduct web conferences. Our agreement provides users with the ability to have meetings with up to 300 users for unlimited minutes.

The Division of Information Technology has an account that can be used pending availability. To request the use of this account, please enter an Event Technology Request (log into My.Scranton, on the HOME tab select Royal IT Support. The Event Technology Request form is on the bottom left). Please make sure to include meeting details in the request.

Find out more about Zoom at https://zoom.us/ or contact the Technology Support Center.

Getting a new cellphone during the holidays? Register a second device with Duo to maintain your My.Scranton access.

If you plan to purchase a new cellphone during the holidays, you will need to re-enroll your account and reconfigure your device. Since our offices close during the holidays, we recommend that users that are planning to replace their cellphones enroll a second device in Two Step today.

Registering a second device prior to getting a new phone, will allow users to continue to log into the My.Scranton portal until IT support resumes on Thursday, January 2.

Register a Secondary Device

Device options include a smartphone, tablet and a hardware token (tokens can only be obtained by visiting the Technology Support).

Adding a Secondary Device

  • Go to https://duo.scranton.edu/
  • Choose an existing authentication method to log into your account
  • Select + Add another device
  • Choose Mobile phone or Tablet (iPad, Nexus 7, etc.)
  • Follow the prompts to add the new device

Upon completion of the onscreen prompts, you will have enrolled a secondary device which can be used to authenticate with. The next time you log into my.scranton, you will be able to select your device and authentication method.

Enroll Your New Phone

If the new device has the same phone number as the older device, then you will need to reactivate the new device.

  • Go to https://duo.scranton.edu/
  • Choose an authentication method to log into your account
  • Next to your cell phone device, select Device Options
  • Click Reactivate Duo Mobile
  • Verify the type of phone
  • Install and open the Duo App
  • Tap the “+” button.
  • Scan the barcode on the screen
  • Click Continue

If the new device has a different phone number as the older device, you need to add it as a new device.
Go to https://duo.scranton.edu/

  • Choose an authentication method to log into your account
  • Select + Add another device
  • Choose Mobile phone
  • Follow the prompts to add the new mobile phone

Technology Support Center

The Technology Support Center is located on the first floor of AMH. Please contact us for questions at 570-941-4357 or techsupport@scranton.edu.

We will be closed or operating on an alternate schedule during the following times:

– Thursday, Nov. 28 – Saturday, Nov. 30: Closed (Thanksgiving Break)
– Saturday, Dec. 14: 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. (Finals Week)
– Sunday, Dec. 15: Closed (Finals Week)
– Monday, Dec. 16 – Friday, Dec. 20: 8:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.
– Saturday, Dec. 21 – Tuesday, Jan.1: Closed (Holiday Break)

Mac Computer Upgrades: Legacy Software and Catalina

Since macOS Catalina is the first Apple operating system that will no longer support 32-bit applications; Apple has provided a way to identify the software that will no longer run when upgrades.

In order to find these applications follow these steps:

  • Click on the Apple logo on the top left of the screen
  • Select About This Mac
  • Click on the System Report button
  • Scroll down the left pane to the Software section and select Legacy Software

Only 32-bit software that is no longer supported by Catalina will show up in this section. If the software that shows up here is important to you, you might consider postponing your upgrade.

If you have software you know to be 64-bit but shows up on this list it means that the software has 32-bit components that cannot be guaranteed to work or work properly under Catalina.

If you have legacy software that is essential to you, you might consider contacting the vendor to find out if or when they will have a Catalina compatible version and what you should do in order to obtain it.

Security Spotlight: Microsoft Advanced Threat Protection

Information Technology has begun testing a new product that will help protect the University from unknown email-based malware and viruses. Microsoft Advanced Threat Protection (ATP) is an email filtering service that provides the following protections:

  • ATP Safe Attachments analyzes all messages and attachments that don’t have a known virus/malware signature and routes them to a special environment where ATP uses a variety of machine learning and analysis techniques to detect malicious intent. If no suspicious activity is detected, the message is released for delivery to the mailbox.
  • The ATP Safe Links feature proactively protects your users from malicious URLs by dynamically blocking suspected unsafe links while good links can be accessed.
  • ATP Anti-Phishing checks incoming messages for indicators that a message might be a phishing attempt. Incoming messages are evaluated by multiple machine learning models that analyze messages and take appropriate action based on the configured policies.

Stay tuned for more information as ATP gets closer to roll out.

AWS Educate in the Classroom

AWS Educate, Amazon’s cloud-based web services platform geared specifically towards educational institutions, has made its debut at the University of Scranton as part of a pilot for the new Data Science Concentration.

The service, which grants access to virtually the entire suite of services offered through Amazon AWS, enables faculty and students to create and manage their own dedicated virtual environment free of charge from anywhere they have internet access. Through the classroom interface, a Professor can configure which services are available to their students and can connect to and manage each student’s computing environment. Virtual classrooms give students the freedom to operate on their own while still allowing the professor to effectively manage the course curriculum.

In the pilot, Dr. Jason Graham of the Mathematics Department is introducing his students to the R programming language and its IDE, RStudio. With AWS Educate, his students are able to deploy their own dedicated EC2 (Elastic Compute Cloud) virtual machine with all of the required software pre-configured for its immediate use all in a matter of minutes. Not only does this save the students from having to install complex software on their personal machines, it also saves Dr. Graham from having to devote precious class time to troubleshooting issues caused by disparities in student hardware.

Cloud-based services are becoming more and more common as user and organizational needs change. By having services like AWS Educate available for students, we’re giving them the opportunity to learn valuable skills which will serve them well when it comes time for them to leave the University. After all, the future of IT is in the cloud!

Get Started with AWS Educate

Faculty members can register as an educator using their University email address at https://aws.amazon.com/education/awseducate/. This will associate their email address with the University of Scranton’s AWS Educate institutional account and allow them to create and manage virtual classrooms.

Please note that as you enter the required information, you will be prompted to either enter an existing AWS account or sign up for a “free” Amazon Educate account. If you sign up for the free account, it’s good for a year but doesn’t require any credit card information. We recommend the alternate option where you associate your AWS Educate account with an AWS account, which requires a credit card. This option is permanent and doesn’t cost anything as long as you stay within the credits allocated through AWS Educate.

Downtime Notice and Videos – *New* My.Scranton Design

Information Technology is upgrading the My.Scranton Portal and Single Sign-On. As a result, access to My.Scranton will be unavailable on Saturday, October 12. This update is necessary due to security compliance.

Access to resources through our portal will not be available during this time, this includes D2L, Engage, CMS, Office 365 email and applications. The University website and mobile app will continue to operate.

On Sunday, after the upgrade, you will notice a new portal design.  Here are a few enhancements to look forward to:

  • The cleaner and simpler workspace design introduces collapsible boxes and eliminates excessive text.
  • Existing links have been reviewed and in some cases reorganized. This allows for a simplified and more intuitive navigation that will make it easier to find important information in fewer clicks.
  • Keeping in mind the ever-growing usage of smartphones and tablets, the portal will be responsive – visually appealing and functional on all devices.

Please review the following resources for more details:

 

Security Spotlight: Improved Wireless Security

In the past, the RoyalSecure wireless network was all-encompassing – all users were using the same network and had access to the same services. This differed from the wired network, where classes of users are separated (or segmented) into their own network spaces. This segmentation allows for different services to be allowed on different network segments. In an effort to improve security, we have segmented the RoyalSecure wireless network to mirror the wired network. One of the benefits of this change is that faculty and staff can now access the file shares G: and H: from the RoyalSecure wireless network.

Request Technology Equipment or Support for a campus event or meeting.

Information Technology has moved the Request for Event Technology/Support form (OIT Equipment Request Form in the My.Scranton portal) into our current Royal IT Support ticketing system.

How do I submit my request for technology equipment or support for a campus event, meeting or class?
You can access the system in two ways. Please note that you will need to log into the system with your my.scranton credentials.
• Go directly to scranton.edu/royalitsupport OR log into the my.scranton portal, and on the Home tab you will see a Royal IT Support link. You will also find the Request Event Technology Equipment/Support link under University Links (Home tab).
• Select the third option on the menu (once you have logged into Royal IT Support): Request Event Technology Equipment/Support.
• Complete the form.
• Select Submit.
• You will receive an email that confirms that we have received the request, and a second email when the equipment/support has been scheduled.

What happens to my existing tickets?
We will start using Royal IT Support for all requests beginning on August 19. If you already have an open request, our Technology Support Center will transfer these to the new system.

Will I still receive updates through e-mail?
Yes. You will continue receiving email updates. You can also view request statuses and updates through the Royal IT Support portal.

Click here for complete information on our event technology equipment or support services availability and processes.

If you have any questions, please contact the Technology Support Center at 570-941-4357 or techsupport@scranton.edu.

Two Step Required in remote.scranton.edu

Two Step (through DUO) will be required when using our remote (VDI) environments. This does not apply to VDI in classsrooms.

What does this change mean?

After August 19th, when you log into remote.scranton.edu and you enter your credentials (Royal ID and Password), you will receive a push notification on your mobile device. As soon as you authenticate by selecting the green checkbox, you will be able to access remote. If you are using a token, you will be prompted for a temporary code on the login page.

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