OIT News – September 2011

OIT News

Monthly news briefs, information and announcements
Office of Information Technology, NC State University
Issue 47, September 2011

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For up-to-the minute reports on OIT systems, see SysNews
For help with computing problems, contact the NC State Help Desk

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01: Stop. Think. Connect. It’s your responsibility!
02: Second Annual Online Accessibility Summit comes to campus on Sept. 27
03: University Emergency Preparedness Road Show is planned for Oct. 6

04: Find missing email or block unwanted mail with Postini
05: OIT and DELTA provide classroom capture services
06: Apple Educational Licensing Program (AELP) renewal
07: New versions of SAS and JMP available
08: OIT Lunch & Learns: “Making Music with iPhones & iPads” and “Demystifying Google Apps for GroupWise Users”
09: Google Apps @ NC State mail and calendar training
10: SAR training scheduled for Oct. 4
11: Be smartphone smart

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01: Stop. Think. Connect. It’s your responsibility!
Cyber security is everyone’s responsibility, including yours.

Igniting a spirit of shared responsibility for Internet safety is the underlying purpose of the “Stop. Think. Connect.” campaign sponsored by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. This national awareness effort seeks to challenge the American public to be more vigilant about practicing safe online habits.

This October, during National Cyber Security Awareness Month, OIT and the NC State Department of Computer Science will join this campaign and host a “Stop. Think. Connect.” forum on Wednesday, Oct. 12 from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m.  in Nelson Hall Auditorium. The keynote address will be delivered by Kevin Coleman, director of State and Local Outreach in the Department of Homeland Security’s National Cyber Security Division.

Also during the month, there will be several Lunch and Learn workshops covering phishing, security updates, data protection, mobile communication device security, and passwords. The first of these, “Annual State of Security,” will be presented by Tim Gurganus of OIT Security and Compliance on Tuesday, Oct. 4 at noon in Room 3118 of Talley Student Center.  For more information, visit the Computer Security Awareness Month 2011 website.

All events will be free and open to the general public. For tips to help you be more safe and secure online, visit the Stop. Think. Connect. campaign website.

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02: Second Annual Online Accessibility Summit comes to campus on Sept. 27
The campus community is invited to attend the Second Annual Online Accessibility Summit on Tuesday, Sept. 27 in the Multimedia Seminar Room of D.H Hill Library.

Co-sponsored by OIT and the D.H. Hill Library, the Accessibility Summit consists of a series of one-hour online presentations from leading accessibility experts, beginning at 10 a.m. and concluding at 7 p.m.  Presentation topics will include “Color for the Colorblind,” “The Inexactness of Web Accessibility,” “Accessibility & HTML5,” “Captioning Strategy,” and much more. You may attend any or all of the presentations, and no admission or registration is required. If you are unable to attend, recordings will be made available at a later time.

For more detailed information about the summit presentations and presenters, please visit the Accessibility Summit website. If you have any questions, please contact Greg Kraus, University IT Accessibility Coordinator, at greg_kraus@ncsu.edu.

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03: University Emergency Preparedness Road Show is planned for Oct. 6

The Office of Business Continuity/Disaster Recovery and OIT Organizational Resilience Services will host their annual University Emergency Preparedness Road Show on Thursday, Oct. 6 from 9 a.m. to noon in the McKimmon Center. The campus community is invited to attend.

The Road Show will showcase these topics:

  • The university’s response to disasters and its level of preparedness
  • The Emergency Information website
  • Version 10 of the Living Disaster Recovery Planning System (LDRPS)
  • Instructional, research, and business continuity
  • OIT disaster recovery strategies
  • The siren system, text messaging, and police preparedness
  • Fire protection emergency preparedness
  • Threat assessment and its role in emergency preparedness.

Guests will share their experiences of recovery from disasters affecting their campuses.

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04: Find missing email or block unwanted mail with Postini
If you use an OIT central email system, remember to check your campus spam service, Postini, regularly. You’ll especially want to do this if you suspect your email is missing or you’re getting unwanted email. Your spam quarantine report arrives in your inbox only once a day, but you can log in to your Postini Message Center anytime to view email that has been flagged as spam.

From within the Postini Message Center, you can approve senders whose mail was blocked and block senders whose mail you don’t want to receive. To help reduce the amount of spam you’re receiving, you can also change the overall junk filter default level from lenient to normal, strict, aggressive, or very aggressive. For more help with Postini, view Non-delivery of Your Campus Email and Best Practices for Managing Junk Mail with Postini.

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05: OIT and DELTA provide classroom capture services
This fall, OIT and Distance Education and Learning Technology Applications (DELTA) are partnering to deliver expanded classroom capture services to the campus community using the Mediasite rich-media capture system.

Mediasite allows faculty to record audio and video content from the classroom for students to review later. OIT and DELTA will provide classroom capture services for 30 courses in a Mediasite pilot. For more information about the Mediasite pilot, see the Deltawire article: “Play it Again: Classroom Capture Gives Students New Ways to Study.”

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06: Apple Educational Licensing Program (AELP) renewal
In October, OIT will renew the Apple Educational Licensing Program (AELP), which allows campus departments and colleges to purchase the Mac Software Collection at a discounted price. The collection includes Mac OS, iLife and iWork.

If your department or college would like to participate in this program, you can contact OIT Software Licensing Management for additional information at software@ncsu.edu or 515-5419.

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07: New versions of SAS and JMP available
NC State now has access to an expanded selection of SAS, JMP and JMP Genomics products, including updated 32-bit and 64-bit versions. There are also unlimited licenses available for JMP and JMP Genomics. To download or view a complete list of available SAS and JMP products, visit the Software Licensing Web page.

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08: OIT Lunch & Learns: Making Music with iPhones & iPads” and “Demystifying Google Apps for GroupWise Users

OIT’s Brown Bag Lunch and Learn series will present the following upcoming workshops:

  • “Making Music with iPhones & iPads” will be held on Tuesday, Sept. 20 from noon to 1 p.m. in 216 Scott Hall. Nowadays, both amateurs and seasoned musicians alike consider their iPhone or iPad an essential tool for both composition and performance. Join Tom Karches of OIT Infrastructure, Systems and Operations and Hal Meeks of OIT Outreach, Communications and Consulting for a whirlwind tour of possible uses for these tools. You don’t need to bring an iPhone or iPad to this workshop, but it might be more fun if you do! To register, visit Classmate.
  • “Demystifying Google Apps for GroupWise Users” will be held on Wednesday, Sept. 28 from noon to 1 p.m. in 216 Scott Hall. Twanda Baker of OIT Design, Education and Outreach will show you how to accomplish some common GroupWise tasks in the new Google Apps @ NC State. Learn how to perform a “busy search,” “proxy” to another calendar, and create “rules” to customize inbox workflow.This preview of Google Apps @ NC State is designed for current GroupWise users, but everyone is welcome to attend. To register, visit Classmate.

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09: Google Apps @ NC State mail and calendar training
OIT will conduct Google Apps @ NC State mail and calendar training sessions on Tuesday, Oct. 4, Tuesday, Nov. 8 and Thursday, Dec. 1. All sessions will be held from 9 a.m. to noon in Room 110 of the Avent Ferry Technology Center.

Don Schmidt and Twanda Baker of OIT Design, Education and Outreach will cover everything you need to know to get started with Gmail and Google Calendar, including an overview of the apps and helpful resources. You must have an active Google Apps @ NC State account to participate in this training. For more information and to register, visit Classmate.

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10: SAR training scheduled for Oct. 4
Security Access Request (SAR) training for campus requestors and approvers of access to secured university data will be held on Tuesday, Oct. 4 from 9:30 a.m. to noon in ITTC Lab 2 of D.H. Hill Library. Please visit Classmate to view available classes and to sign up for training.

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11: Be smartphone smart

Do you own an iPhone, a Blackberry, or an Android?  Did you know that these “smartphones” are actually microcomputers that are just as vulnerable to online data theft and security risks as personal computers? Consequently, you should be vigilant and treat email and Web activity on your smartphone as seriously as you would on any other computer.

While accessing your email on your smartphone, be mindful of phishing attacks, infected attachments and scams. Be careful of the documents you open or link to from your email. Anything that looks too good to be true probably is, so stay away.

The same goes for Web browsing. You should limit your activity to websites you know and trust. Use Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) encryption such as https:// or use the university’s Virtual Private Network (VPN) for Web browsing and email wherever they are supported.

Be sure to install antivirus software on your smartphone (and other computers) to protect against malware and other electronic threats. If you have questions, please contact OIT Security and Compliance at abuse@ncsu.edu or the NC State Help Desk at 515-HELP (4357).

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For help with computing at NC State, visit the NC State Help Desk website, phone 515-HELP (4357), or visit Room 101, West Dunn Building.

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