Staff

The campus has recently been targeted by a number of malicious e-mails that appear to be attempts to gain user information such as passwords and bank account information. One recent phishing e-mail was supposedly from Wells Fargo and another related to closing webmail accounts. Individuals who received these e-mails should simply delete the messages.

In late September the Campus IT Security Office began implementing a new security measure which protects the campus from websites that are known to contain malware. Sites that are blocked are often trying to install software on visitor’s computers without their knowledge. The software can range from browser pop-ups to spyware and viruses. Once installed, these viruses are often used to gain access to computers in order to use them to send spam or for other nefarious purposes.

Antivirus software is one of the most important tools for safeguarding your computer, vital University information, and personal data from viruses and worms. All CU Boulder faculty, staff and students are encouraged to check their computers for a current version of antivirus software, as some software has been updated.

The IT Security Office (ITSO) recommended software is available on the OIT website at http://oit.colorado.edu/antivirus.

TO:                      Boulder Campus Teaching & Research Faculty, Staff, Deans, Directors, Dept Chairs

FROM:                 Office of Information Technology

SENDER:              Larry Levine, AVC for IT and CIO

DATE:                  October 6, 2011

SUBJECT:            Completing the Transition to Our New Messaging and Calendaring Service

On Friday, September 30, Microsoft Forefront and Security Essentials, the two recommended antivirus solutions for campus network users, started misidentifying Google Chrome as a virus and automatically removing it from computers on which both are installed. Microsoft has since resolved the conflict by releasing new virus definitions for Forefront and Security Essentials but you must update your virus definitions (see instructions below) before you will be able to reinstall Chrome on affected computers.
 

The IT Security Office is implementing in phases a new security measure which will help protect the campus from websites that are known to contain malware and transmit data back to a hacker. On Tuesday, October 4, wireless web traffic from subnets that serve the East Campus will start routing through the new WSA (web security appliances) service. Then on Thursday, October 6, wireless traffic from the rest of campus will start routing through the WSA service. When the service is implemented at approximately 5:30 a.m.

Get off on the right foot. Find the information you need to efficiently tap into CU-Boulder IT services in the OIT Quick Start site.

OIT Quick Start is a combined effort with the goal of helping you efficiently tap into a comprehensive suite of IT services offered on the CU-Boulder campus.

The University of Colorado at Boulder encourages the fair use of copyrighted materials in support of its academic and research mission, and strives to provide clear guidance to faculty, students, and staff who wish to use copyrighted materials in their teaching and research. Go to the university's copyright and fair use website.

Did you know you have free access to business and technology skills training, videos, online books, test prep, reference materials and many more learning resources through the portal? The SkillSoft learning portal includes over 29,000 titles in Books 24/7 and courses on everything from popular software titles to interviewing and teambuilding.

TO: Boulder Campus Teaching Faculty, Deans, Directors, Dept Chairs

FROM: Office of Information Technology

SENDER: Deborah Keyek-Franssen, Ph.D., Director of Academic Technology

DATE: August 12, 2011

SUBJECT: i>clicker Technology Updated; Pick up Your New Base Station

The Office of Information Technology (formerly ITS) recently updated i>clicker technology in Boulder campus classrooms to provide the latest i>clicker technology and avoid the registration issues that were experienced at the beginning of the spring 2011 semester.

University, government laboratory and industry users of high performance computing (HPC) will gather at the Colorado School of Mines, September 23-24, to discuss HPC education and connecting institutions and users who rely on HPC.

OIT is conducting emergency maintenance tonight to restore uninterruptible power to the data center in the Computing Center on the east campus. The Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS) device that serves the data center requires emergency maintenance. The data center houses the equipment powering many services for the campus. We will bring these services down tonight, Friday, August 26 at 8 p.m. and are anticipated to be restored 8:00 a.m., Saturday morning, August 27.

A little over a year ago our campus created a new position to provide leadership and coordination for research computing activities in support of CU-Boulder becoming a national leader in the area of research computing.  As the new school year begins, our campus has a fully engaged research computing group led by Director of Research Computing, Thomas Hauser.

Migrations from CULink to the all-new campus Microsoft Exchange service have been progressing steadily and now approximately one-third of all faculty, staff and retiree accounts are on Exchange. Exchange is provided to all Boulder campus faculty, staff and retirees (and student employees upon request) as a common-good service, meaning there is no direct cost to you or your department.

With the advent of our new learning management system, Desire2Learn (D2L), University of Colorado Boulder faculty have options for their fall semester online learning environment. CULearn is still available through myCUinfo; however, an enthusiastic transition to our new online learning environment, Desire2Learn, continues.

CULearn remains the default selection for this semester; however, both systems are available for use. Since faculty can choose which system to use, students may see courses in either or both systems.

Resources are available: