Recent Posts
Big-time important message about Moodle!
ATTN: MOODLE USERS!
This Saturday at 8:00 am – yep, that’s tomorrow – we need to close access to Moodle for an hour, from 8:00-9:00 am. Again, that’s tomorrow morning, Saturday. There’s no problem to address or maintenance to perform; we simply need a quiet moment of uninterrupted peace with the blessed Moodle server.
Stay safe online - Avoiding Phishing
The following link is to a Google artical on how protect your account information to your online banking, Centre and other accounts.
http://www.google.com/goodtoknow/online-safety/phishing/
You can follow the latest Centre computer security news @CentreITSEC on twitter. https://twitter.com/#!/CentreITSEC
Today's Phishing Email!
Another example of a phishing attack trying to steal you Centre passwd. ITS will never ask you for your passwd! http://twitpic.com/8bht8y
You can follow the latest Centre computer security news @CentreITSEC on twitter. https://twitter.com/#!/CentreITSEC
Phishing Email
Here is a screen capture of latest attempt to steal your password! http://twitpic.com/8b5ljc
You can follow the latest Centre computer security news @CentreITSEC on twitter. https://twitter.com/#!/CentreITSEC
Known issue with McAfee Security Suite - Intermittently blocks internet connection
Due to the large number of students affected with this issue, we felt it was appropriate to send a notification out to campus regarding a bug found with the most recent versions of McAfee Security Suite; more specifically the Personal Firewall component.
When the issue occurs, McAfee’s Personal Firewall blocks all access to the internet. This issue appears to come and go, allowing you to access the web one minute before blocking you the next and behaves as though you have a bad internet connection. Many users have also reported that this issue only began occurring when they arrived on Centre’s campus. We believe this is due to a bug in McAfee’s firewall, reacting (or overreacting) to some of the administrative traffic that is normally found on an enterprise network, such as our own. To clarify, this is a bug with McAfee, not a design flaw on our network and has been reported by a multitude of users on both educational and business enterprise networks.
UPDATE! PlayStation Network Credit Cards Confirmed Stolen; Fraud Reported
Just a quick update to the alert about the PlayStation Network breach that I sent a message about last week; it appears that several news sites are confirming that close to 10 million credit card numbers were indeed stolen when the PlayStation Network was breached and there are multiple accounts of fraud appearing on people’s statements. With it being a big news week, and the severity of the issue, I wanted to make sure this didn’t slip through the cracks.
PlayStation Network Security Breach
You might have heard by now that the PlayStation Network was breached 7 days ago. Sony has just released specifics of what has happened, mainly that that all your personal information on the system has been stolen by an outside party. This is one of the largest breaches of this caliber, affecting some 77 million subscribers.
Keep yourself safe from "phishing" and other scams in the wake of the "Epsilon data breach
Recently you might have heard in the news about the “Epsilon data breach” and theft of a number of email addresses associated with Kroger cards. Unfortunately Kroger isn’t the only company that uses this agency, it just happens be to the only one the media has reported on. Epsilon is a company that provides outsourced email communication for a large number of businesses...
Network Maintenance Completed
Update: Work on our network has now been completed.
This evening starting at 5:00 PM ITS will be performing maintenance on one of our two network core switches. The equipment will be taken off line at 5:00 PM and most locations will see a small (0 to 15 second) delay in service when the second core switch takes over.
Email problems resolved
An extremely large number of email messages with large attachments were being sent from on campus though our email system starting shortly after noon today. This caused our email system to grind to a halt interrupting service for all campus users.
We have corrected the issue and email service has returned to normal. We apologize for the inconvenience.
Why Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 doesn't work on your Xbox 360 or PS3
Many of you have seen that you are able to connect to the Internet or game networks (Playstation Network, Xbox Live), but not play multiplayer for Call Of Duty: Modern Warefare 2. This is an issue we have been investigating since the launch of the game and it boils down to the way Infinity Ward designed their multiplayer service is not compatible with a corporate network like those found on modern college campuses. With most Xbox or Playstation games, the player connects to a game service and that service then connects you to either a dedicated server or though the service to another player's console where the multiplayer match is being hosted. In the case of COD:MW2 it appears that they use another connection, outside of either XBL or PSN, in order to establish connections between players. Unfortunately this model of connection requires configuration of any security appliance such as a firewall, and due to type of configuration necessary, would be impossible to maintain.
Network Outage Update!
All buildings were brought back online Saturday afternoon and the bulk of the repair/replacement work has been completed today. There will be some cleanup and testing work that will continue on Monday, but this will have no affect on network or phone service in any building.
Thank you for your understanding during this repair work.
Fiber cable cut, network down! Update!
Because of the length of the fiber optic cable that was cut yesterday replacement material had to be shipped from the factory on the west coast. The new cable is scheduled to arrive in a FedEx hub overnight tonight and will be picked up in the wee hours of the morning by our cabling contractor. They will begin physically installing the cable and will work though until the repair is completed. At this point we are hoping all buildings will return to service by the end of the day on Friday.
Fiber cable cut, network down!
A contractor has sliced though a 96 strand fiber optic cable in front of Young Hall causing network and phone service outages in the buildings listed below.
Network Maintenance
Saturday 31, 2010 at 11:00 PM
Because of an update to the electrical systems in the campus network operations center we will be changing a piece of equipment. This will cause a disruption of network and phone services for 5 minutes in the following buildings.
Microsoft Entourage email issue
We have encountered an issue with Microsoft Entourage running on all Mac computers on campus. All Windows based computers are unaffected, only Mac OS X computers have this issue.
Alert: Entourage Password Errors
We've received a number of reports that Entourage (an email client for Macs) is failing to access email this morning. We've identified a solution, and are working to fix all reported issues. If you are experiencing this, please enter a helpdesk ticket so that we can get you back online. For now, affected users can use webmail without issue.
E-mail service upgrade this weekend
There will be periods of downtime Friday after 5PM as we upgrade the campus email system. Any e-mail received by campus for your email box will still be delivered as normal throughout the process. We are hoping to have the entire process done by 10AM Sunday morning. Further details are available by clicking below.
Saving Green by Going Green
During our last round of purchases of computers I noticed a new option Dell has on their computer customization page called “Plant a Tree for Me”. Dell has partnered with The Conservation Fund and CarbunFund.org to allow anyone buying a computer “to offset the CO2 emissions related to the use of an extended selection of IT products.”
Inventory Roundup: What are we up to?
The ITS department has recently begun an intensive inventory project. Read about what we're up to in this post.
Virtualizing the Desktop
We're always cooking up ways to get even better technology into the hands of every member of campus. Read a bit about our latest program and where it might be going from here.
Possible Network Outages
The extraordinary rain fall has cause ground water and a sewage backup in the basement of McReynolds Hall. Further updates will be added to this post.
The Great Recycling Purge of 2010
So how much computer and network junk does a small liberal arts college produce in a year? I’m betting its more than you would expect.
When we take a computer out of an office or computer lab, we inspect it to see if it’s something that could go out on campus to a location that doesn’t need something with as much power behind it, or if we can cannibalize the parts. When it’s been determined that a computer has lived a full and meaningful life, or if its just plain dead and ready to be sent on its way, we set it aside in a special location in the basement of Bingham hall.