No major issues this week. Though I’ve got to say that ‘slow’ seems to be the new normal for our internet speed. They have not reported any specific issues, so I don’t know why this is the case. I have requested a status update. Besides the speed issue, phishing scams are still a problem. Here’s a quick reminder of things to look for in a suspicious email:
- You don’t know the sender – be suspicious!
- You haven’t asked for IT help (from campus or elsewhere).
- Any legitimate email from campus IT (CougTech, CAHNRS IT, WSU ITS, etc) will NEVER ask you to validate your account, reset your password, etc. from an embedded link (CLICK HERE, VALIDATE NOW).
- Campus IT will NEVER threaten to terminate your account if you don’t act immediately. This is a scare tactic used by scammers.
What to do if you get a suspicious email? DO NOT click on any links. Forward the email directly to abuse@wsu.edu so they can deal with it. IF it is a legitimate email, they will tell you. For more information about phishing and to see examples of previous phishing attempts visit my Phishing Gallery page.
Campus ITS updates:
- They did work on the Authentication credentials for MyWSU – some people may have had problems accessing this while the work was ongoing. However -they aren’t done – see Nov 18th item.
- Yesterday, Microsoft reported an “incident” regarding Outlook on the Web. Apparently, the issue was related to the use of specific browsers/versions where you could not view, create, or reply to email. There were no reports of anyone here at the Center having problems. The issue has since been resolved.
- Wednesday, Nov. 15, between 8 PM and 11 PM, ITS is updating the network configuration of the production mainframe AIS system. This update should be transparent to users, i.e. no anticipated impact.
This work is further preparation for moving the mainframe to the cloud. If users do encounter problems after this change, please reach out to the Business Systems development team at bsgprog@lists.wsu.edu to report issues. - Saturday, Nov 18 from 2 am – 7 am, ITS will be performing maintenance to install critical security updates into the myWSU environment. Access to myWSU may be available during that time, but users will experience unexpected
- Tuesday morning, Nov 21, ITS is upgrading campus border firewalls between 4:30 am and 6 am. During that maintenance period, there will be intermittent internet connectivity interruptions. If you have any automatic off-site backups occurring during that time period, you may want to reschedule. Let’s hope their messing with the firewalls doesn’t have unexpected consequences for us. If you do have problems call CougTech at 335-4357.