Security
and
Internet
Services

Security
home

JUNK E-MAIL UPDATE
On October 12, you should have received an e-mail update about controlling junk mail. The blocking procedures, described in that update, are being gradually put into place. In just the past 2 weeks, the Central E-mail servers have successfully blocked 2,944,629 junk e-mails. More information will be e-mailed soon about the next features to be implemented. For the text of the Oct. 12 e-mail, see http://www.umn.edu/oit/security/junkmail.shtml#update.

NIGERIAN SCAM E-MAIL
Have you been curious about who is sending you all those Nigerian scam e-mails? Here are a couple interesting links -- http://slate.msn.com/?id=2072851 and http://www.snopes.com/inboxer/scams/nigeria.htm

A CHANGE FOR SOME POPMAIL USERS
About 4,200 popmail users have been identified as users who leave all their e-mail on the server, probably due to misconfiguration of their popmail clients. These users NEVER SEE their old mail and assume it's been deleted. This has resulted in a total of 250 Gigabytes of mail stored on the central server, with 1.5% of the total 149,000 accounts using 47.8% of the space...[more]

SECURITY TIPS
Have you changed your password lately? If you can't remember the last time you changed it, it is probably time! Passwords are the key to many systems; helping to prevent unauthorized access and ensure your privacy. For tips on changing your password see http://www.umn.edu/oit/security/passwordguide.shtml... [more]

Network and
Telecommunication
Services

NTS home

CORRECTION:
"Network
Backbone
Changes"

"IPX" [Novell IPX] was inadvertently left out of the e-mail version of this brief.

We apologize for any concern or inconvenience this may have caused you.

ENHANCED VOICEMAIL
Enhanced Voicemail is a new offering from NTS with special features such as fax sending and receiving, deleted message queue for one week and play speed controls. For more information or to participate in the trial refer to http://www.umn.edu/nts/voicemail/.

ANALOG TELEPHONE UPGRADE COMPLETE
The analog telephone upgrade is now complete throughout campus. NTS is aware of the missed sets and made a second delivery sweep on October 30 and 31. Any more missed sets can be reported to 1-HELP (301-4357); NTS repair technicians will make deliveries during November.

CLOCKS ON STE-SD TELEPHONES
The clock on the new STE-SD telephones and the time on the display are refreshed with incoming calls. These internal clocks are built with limited precision; and if no phone call is received over the course of a day, the clock may be off by as much as 15 minutes! NTS has informed the vendor, and a fix is on the way. But we don't recommend that you set watches by these analog telephone clocks!

UNIVERSITY TELEPHONE NUMBERS
301-HELP is really a telephone number at the University! The 301 numbers were added two years ago and used for all residential halls on campus. The University telephone numbers are 624, 625, 626 and 301; all are in area code 612 regardless of whether the phone is located on the St. Paul or Minneapolis campuses. Technical Assistance for OIT is 612-301-4357 (1-HELP).

FACILITY SAFETY AND DISASTER RECOVERY
To improve disaster recovery preparedness and facility safety, NTS is planning to move and store all telephone cable spools on campus and in closed storage. These cable spools are now stored outdoors in multiple locations. Indoor storage would make them more readily available and protect them from deterioration sun ultra rays.

UM NETWORK BACKBONE CHANGES
If funding is available, OIT plans to upgrade the data network backbone at the University starting in 2003 and continue through 2004. This change will provide University users with advanced features and generally a higher speed of delivery, GigE and 10/100 Ethernet connectivity. In preparation for this upgrade AppleTalk and Novell IPX will be discontinued and removed from the network routing...[more]

NEW GIGABIT BACKBONE
The University of Minnesota will soon be connected to a new gigabit backbone along with other community and technical colleges in the Twin Cities metropolitan area as a member of MetNet: http://www.metnet.edu/about... [more]

Academic and
Distributed
Computing
Services

ADCS home

WARNING: WINDOWS XP INTERNET CONNECTION SHARING
On some new factory-configured Windows XP computers and XPs moved from home network environments to the U of M network, Internet Connection Sharing has been turned on. This may cause the computer to act as a "rogue" DHCP server preventing nearby computers from connecting to the campus network and Internet. If your ethernet connection has been turned off for this reason, please contact 1-HELP (612-301-4357) for assistance in turning off Internet Connection Sharing!

NOV 12: NEXT TA WEB CERTIFICATION PROGRAM
In this 4-week, 30-hour course TAs learn how to integrate technology into their courses and to produce course Web sites. The next session starts on Nov. 12. For details, see this DMC Website: http://dmc.umn.edu/ta-web.shtml.

IMPROVED WIRELESS SECURITY
We are happy to announce improved wireless security. When using a wireless PCMCIA card if you will, or might, transmit sensitive data such as passwords, credit card information, social security numbers or any confidential information by any means while connected to the Internet or if you need access to restricted University resources, you need OIT's Virtual Private Network (VPN) service...[more]

ENDORSEMENT: FACULTY ADVISORY COMMITTEE
The WebCT Faculty Advisory Committee fully endorses the proposed upgrade to WebCT Campus Edition 3.8 and the evaluation of WebCT Vista to begin when migration to Campus Edition 3.8 is complete. Read the entire letter...[more]

WEBCT 3.8 IS BEING TESTED
ADCS and DMC staff members are testing a new version of WebCT software, version 3.8...[more]

NEW FACE-TO-FACE AND ONLINE TEL SHORT COURSES
The Digital Media Center and Academic and Distributed Computing Services are again offering a variety of free technology-enhanced learning (TEL) short courses to faculty members this semester, including two new ones about course websites...[more]

NOV 6: NEXT TEL SEMINAR
Noon-1:30 p.m. in 165 Peik Hall. Projects by (a) Daniel Shaw and Hope Johnson and (b) Robert Adams and Dawn Gilpin will be presented...[more]

PRINTING IN STUDENT COMPUTER FACILITIES
In January, 2002, the Pharos UniPrint system was implemented in the ADCS student computer facilities on the St. Paul campus. UniPrint is a pre-pay printing system that is compatible with the U Card and Gopher GOLD cards that are currently accepted in campus vending machines and U of M Libraries printers...[more]

RESIDENCE HALL TIDBITS
In October, 2002 the ResNet subscription rate was 72 percent; of the 8,017 students in the Residents Halls, 5,770 are ResNet subscribers. From the end of August to the end of September, 102 appointments were scheduled for ADCS technicians to install/troubleshoot ResNet...[more]