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Archive: December 8, 2004

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Security and
Internet Services

Security home

LOCAL PHISHING SEASON!
Phishing attacks have recently been targeting TCF customers. These fraudulent e-mails ask you to provide private information. DO NOT respond to any phishing e-mails! TCF has a website to address these e-mails at http://www.tcfbank.com/Security/security_email_fraud.jsp.

HOLIDAY SEASON AWARENESS
Phishing scams are a major threat during the shopping season: http://www.umn.edu/oit/security/OUCH_Volume_1_No.12.html. A list of major monthly threats: http://www.umn.edu/oit/security/OUCHnewsletter.html.

E-MAIL CHANGE: SSL SECURITY REQUIREMENT
A change in e-mail security requirements will affect a small number of users. Soon all e-mail users will be required to use e-mail clients that support SSL, a protocol that encrypts data sent to and from computers. Current e-mail users of older, non-SSL clients soon will get e-mail about these changes. See http://www.umn.edu/securecom.

SPAM AND VIRUS STATS
In November, 2004 Central e-mail spam controls blocked 10,005,376 messages. Anti-virus controls blocked an additional 116,443 messages.

Network and Telecommunication
Services

NTS home

COMMUNICATION, VITAL TO NETWORK UPGRADE SUCCESS
We use voicemail and e-mail to let our customers know where, when, and what we are doing so they can plan accordingly. Voicemail announcements and daily updates are sent to people in buildings where cutover work will be or is occurring as well as to all who have registered to receive e-mail via the Track Progress by Building web application.

HOW TO STOP UPGRADE PROJECT VOICEMAIL
To stop receiving voicemail announcements and updates about the Network Upgrade, call 1-HELP (612-301-4357) and ask to be taken off of the voicemail list for the Network Upgrade project.

CHANGE YOUR TRACK PROGRESS BY BUILDING OPTIONS
If you are using the Track Progress by Building application and would like to stop receiving Network Upgrade e-mail announcements, visit https://wwws.nts.umn.edu/cgi-bin/nu/buildingstat.cgi. Once there you can: select "De-register All" or deselect buildings individually and click "Register" to submit those changes.

GOPHER GIGANET FEEDBACK NEEDED
We need your feed back on the Gopher GigaNet St. Paul campus cutover. Tell us how we did so far on the St Paul cutover and how we can do better! Just go to the Network Upgrade survey page: https://wwws.nts.umn.edu/cgi-bin/nu/giganet_survey.cgi. Select your building. Click on the "Continue" button, and fill out the survey.

OLD WIRING AND NETWORK UPGRADE PROBLEM
Some University buildings still have wiring that is so old it may not support high speed data connections. During the St. Paul campus cutover we found many old wiring problems. NTS can still update your building's wiring. You can send us a project request for a wiring estimate from the link at: http://www.umn.edu/nts/services/voicesvs/projcoor1.shtml. Some matching funds may still be available on a first-come basis.

WIRING STANDARD
The standard inside wiring for voice and data cables are generically called Unshielded Twisted Pair (UTP) and are identified with a category rating of 5, 5e, or 6 UTP. which is rated for 10 and 100 and 1,000MB LAN operation.

OVERVIEW OF NETWORK UPGRADE TROUBLE TICKETS
We reviewed the trouble tickets reported during the St. Paul campus/Como area cutover. From August 30 to November 1: 8,880 individual etherjack connections were moved to the new Gopher GigaNet; 475 problem reporting tickets were issued. The top issues for problem tickets included: speed negotiations, DNS, and database issues. See table for details.

Academic and
Distributed
Computing
Services

ADCS home

AGGREGATE PURCHASING FROM DELL AND GATEWAY
Again, to save departments and individuals money on computer hardware purchases, ADCS/OIT and the Purchasing Department were able to arrange deeper discounts on several Dell and Gateway desktop and laptop configurations created by CLA. These discounts will be available until the end of December. Go to http://www.techmart.umn.edu. Questions? Call Justin Halverson at 612-626-4644.

JULY 5 REQUIREMENT: SSL FOR E-MAIL, TELNET, FTP
Due to increased vulnerabilities in today's computing environment, OIT must require that all e-mail, Telnet, and FTP clients use SSL (Secure Socket Layer). This change will be mandatory as of July 5, 2005. For more information see http://www.umn.edu/securecom.

JANUARY: TECH TALK, SEASON 3
We are currently planning 13 episodes for season 3 that will begin airing in January, 2005. If you would like to see a certain topic discussed, please contact us at techtalk@umn.edu. Also see http://techtalk.umn.edu/.

Digital
Media
Center

DMC home

PROPOSALS DUE JAN. 7:
PROMOTING STUDENT LEARNING IN LARGE-ENROLLMENT CLASSES
Twin Cities instructors may apply to participate in a Bush Foundation grant-funded project to enhance student learning through innovative teaching and technology strategies. The project is supported by CTLS and DMC consultants. See the Call for Proposals: http://www.umn.edu/ohr/teachlearn/innovative/CFP_Large_Classes.pdf.

SCHEDULE ONLINE: SPRING TEL SEMINARS
This spring, faculty and staff members will discuss the following topics at four sessions of the technology-enhanced learning (TEL) seminar series: TEL in Large Enrollment Classes, Using the MyU Portal; TEL Faculty Development and Support; and Faculty TEL Leadership. See http://dmc.umn.edu/series/spring04.shtml.

RESULTS: FACULTY TECHNOLOGY SURVEY
In February 2004 staff members from the DMC, OIT, and seven colleges surveyed Twin Cities campus faculty members to determine the impact educational technology is having on campus. Read a report about the results: http://dmc.umn.edu/surveys/faculty/fsreport04.pdf.

TA WEB TRAINING OFFERINGS
This spring, the popular TA Web Certification Program is offered both as a non-credit program and a 2-credit course, Nurs 5800. Students learn about web-based teaching and learning strategies and web design and development techniques. See http://dmc.umn.edu/ta-web.shtml.

GET READY TO TEACH WITH TECHNOLOGY
Learn how to enhance learning with technology, create course web sites and electronic presentations, and more in winter technology-enhanced learning (TEL) courses. The course fee is waived for eligible faculty members. See http://training.micro.umn.edu/ShortCourses/ClassList2.cfm?Sort=Category#16.

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