Technology Advisory Group

We just received the following information from IT Services:

The University of Scranton and IT Services has contracted with SANS Security to provide video based Security Training entitled Securing the Human. This training consists of 20 online videos to aide our user community in learning about Information Security and its importance.
You will be receiving an email from James Franceschelli, noreply@vle.securingthehuman.org, if you haven’t already, with your username and password to access the off campus website. We encourage you to visit the site and begin the trainings. To make it more interesting, we’ve added a security contest where you may win an iPad2 just for completing the video training. The security contest starts today and ends on Dec. 21, 2011.

The e-mail that you probably already received about this, with your e-mail and a password, is legitimate and comes from IT services, even though at first glance it is questionable. It does NOT ask you for any personal information in the e-mail, but will ask you to change your password as you log in. If you have any thoughts and/or concerns, please let us know!

Some Additional Information: There are about 90-95 minutes of videos explaining cybersecurity, and what threats are available. After many videos, there is a short multiple choice quiz that you much get correct in order to “pass” the training. The videos appear to explain the material in plain language, and are likely very good for people unfamiliar with technology and cyber-security. The videos themselves are fairly short (the longest are only about 6 minutes long) so you can watch them a bit at a time in your free time. I recommend them, especially for people unfamiliar with this topic.

UPDATE: The training videos have been changed. There are now significantly fewer topics. There are now only 17 videos, and it appears to be about 40-60 minutes of total video time.

UPDATE: I recently spoke with IT staff involved with the data center move. It is likely that the copiers in the secretarial pool will continue to function as printers for faculty in the new science center. So it appears that many faculty will be unaffected. But please be prepared with an alternative option just in case.

Dear All,

We just received word from Jim Franceschelli that network printing services will be unavailable this Wednesday, 11/16. Due to the continuing construction in St. Thomas, the data center than handles network printing traffic will be interrupted. Printers directly connected to your computer will be unaffected. No other network services will be affected.

Please keep this in mind and plan accordingly!

Help IT relocate services and be GREEN for a day! Shared Printing Outage scheduled for 11/16/11.

Due to the St. Thomas Hall construction project, the STT data site has been scheduled for relocation on Wednesday, November 16, 2011. The impact of this move will result in network printer outages in some offices and lab facilities. The relocation should be complete by 5:00 pm; however, in the event of complications the outage may extend into Thursday, November 17th. The relocation of this facility is a requirement of the STT renovation project and IT is making every effort to minimize the impact.

Areas affected by this printer outage include Admissions, Aquinas, Career Services, CAS Dean’s Office, CGCE, Communications (LOY 226 lab), Computer Science (CSLIT Labs), CTLE, Financial Aid, KSOM Advising, Math Lab, MGH Advising Center, Physics Labs , Provost, Purchasing, Registrar, ResLife, Student Affairs, and the Treasurer’s Office including Bursar’s, Payroll and Accounts Receivable. Computer lab printing and office printing to shared network printers will be unavailable for the duration of the move. Printing to local printers and Lanier copies will not be affected. All other data and networking services will not be affected.

We apologize for any inconvenience and ask that you plan your printing needs around this short downtime. This is also a great opportunity for all those affected to demonstrate our abilities to be green and reduce our dependency on printing. If you have any questions or concerns please contact the Technology Support Center 941-4357.

The IT Matters Fall edition was recently posted to RoyalNews. It can be found here. A few things that may be of interest:

1. With the upgrade to the wireless network (thus far focused primarily on the student residential spaces), the number of wireless connections being used by students has risen dramatically. Phase Three of the wireless project is scheduled to begin in the summer and will include the academic, administrative, and outdoor spaces
2. A reminder that faculty are allocated one computer (either desktop OR laptop) which is allocated from the IR Services budget. Any faculty that upgrades their computer must return their old computer to IT Services for recycling.
3. Lecture capture technologies are in the implementation stage in Loyola Science Center. By the Spring 2012 semester, it is expected that there will be three spaces are are fully mediated: including lecture capture with video and audio of the professor, as well as side-by-side capture of anything projected through the computer. To schedule rooms with these capabilities, be sure to request them from your department chair and/or dean.
4. Remember, in order to access the internet through the wired or wireless networks on campus, your computer MUST have a modern and updated antivirus software installed.

See the IT Matters Newsletter for more information.