OIT News
Monthly news briefs, information and announcements
Office of Information Technology, NC State University
Issue 50, December 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: Announcing the Google-Announce list
02: Limited number of Google Apps Drop-in Centers returning in January
03: University imposes restriction on new service providers for credit card payment processing
04: FOSS Fair 2012 registration is open
05: OIT releases new antivirus software to campus
06: OIT to offer Google Apps @ NC State training on Dec. 20
07: SAR training scheduled for March 6
08: Support red and green IT
09: Before your laptop or mobile phone is lost or stolen, Prey!
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01: Announcing the Google-Announce list
With all NC State students, faculty and staff now using Google Apps @ NC State, OIT is introducing the Google-Announce list.
Subscribe to this list to keep abreast of changes to the Google Apps @ NC State environment. When Google makes significant changes—to add new features and applications, to remove discontinued features and applications, or to change the way existing features and applications work—you’ll hear about those on this list. The list may also be used to announce tips and best practices, and major performance, reliability, availability or maintenance-related issues affecting the Google Apps @ NC State environment.
This is a “one-way” list. You can only receive from it; you cannot post to it. To subscribe, send an email to mj2@lists.ncsu.edu, leave the subject line blank, and put subscribe google-announce in the body. You may unsubscribe at any time.
02: Limited number of Google Apps Drop-in Centers returning in January
Do you need help with or have questions about Google Apps @ NC State? Due to the overwhelmingly positive feedback about support personnel availability in Drop-in Centers across campus on Google Day (Nov. 30), OIT plans to repeat the concept in January.
Current plans include setting up centers in Holladay Hall, in Administrative Services Center III and in the Talley Student Center. Specific dates for the locations will be announced after the holidays on the OIT website.
03: University imposes restriction on new service providers for credit card payment processing
Effective immediately, the university has placed a restriction on new contracts with credit card processing service providers, while it reviews newly issued security standards of the Payment Card Industry.
The Payment Card Industry has added new security requirements for processing credit card payments, including requiring more stringent control of credit card “service providers,” or business entities (e.g., NelNet, Yahoo StoreFront, PayPal, Convio, Micros, etc.) that are directly involved in the processing, storage, or transmission of cardholder data.
NC State currently has contracts with more than 20 credit card service providers, which are extremely difficult to manage and fit into a structure that will ensure compliance with the new security requirements. Until the university is able to complete a thorough review of all configurations and controls related to this complex list of service providers, no additional contracts will be established with any new credit card service providers.
If you have a business need to establish a contract with a new service provider, the Payment Card Industry (PCI) Compliance and Review Advisory Committee must approve the new contract. If you have an existing relationship with a service provider, you may request an expansion of that relationship if it does not create any additional security issues. Please submit any requests to expand an existing service contract or engage a new service provider to Amanda Richardson of the University Controller’s Office at 513-4464 or amanda_richardson@ncsu.edu.
04: FOSS Fair 2012 registration is open
Registration is now open for FOSS Fair 2012, which will be held on Saturday, Feb. 18 beginning at 9 a.m. in Room 3211 of Engineering Building 2 (EB2) on NC State’s Centennial Campus.
An unconference-style event, the Free and Open Source Software Fair is completely driven by its participants, and any topic relating to free and open source software is welcome. You can suggest a session, volunteer to give a talk, and register for the event on the FOSS Fair 2012 website. Some of last year’s sessions included: Participating in Realm Linux 6 Development, How to Be an Open Source Developer, and Developing for Android.
To register, or get more information about this year’s conference, contact Jack Neely, event coordinator, at 513-1522 or visit the FOSS Fair 2012 website.
05: OIT releases new antivirus software to campus
On Dec. 15, OIT released Trend Micro OfficeScan Version 10.6 to campus. Trend Micro is the university’s antivirus provider, and OfficeScan is available at no cost to students, faculty and staff. Antivirus protection is required for all computers connected to the campus network.
The Web download of the OfficeScan update is available via the NC State Antivirus Resources website.
OfficeScan offers several enhancements, including faster detection of viruses and malware and incident response as well as enhanced reporting, which permits better analysis, tracking and communication of security incidents. It also offers both faster start-up time and full system scans.
The deployment of the new release to campus users’ computers will be a weeklong process. Users will be prompted to restart their computers in order for the installation to take effect. It is not critical that the restart occurs immediately. For more information about antivirus protection, visit the NC State Antivirus Resources website.
06: OIT to offer Google Apps @ NC State training on Dec. 20
OIT is conducting Google Apps @ NC State mail and calendar training sessions on Tuesday, Dec. 20 from 9 a.m. to noon in Room 110 of the Avent Ferry Technology Center (OIT Training Labs).
Andrew Barnes of OIT Technology Support Services will cover everything you need to know to get started with Gmail and Google Calendar, including an overview of the apps and helpful resources. For more information and to register, visit Classmate.
07: SAR training scheduled for March 6
Monthly Security Access Request (SAR) training for campus requestors and approvers of access to secured university data has been suspended until March due to the Financial System 9.1 upgrade, which is slated for March 26. SAR provides the ability to request access to the Financial System.
The next SAR training session will be held on Tuesday, March 6 from 9:30 a.m. to noon in the ITTC Lab 2 of D.H. Hill Library. It will include requesting changes to the new Financial System.
Employees needing training prior to the Financial System 9.1 upgrade should contact Beth Jones, OIT security administrator, at 513-1192 or via email at beth_jones@ncsu.edu.
To view and sign up for upcoming training sessions, please visit Classmate.
08: Support red and green IT
OIT reminds you of IT-related measures you can take to support the university’s commitment to sustainability during the upcoming university closing.
Before you leave for the winter break, turn off any scanners, printers or other computer peripherals that won’t be used while you’re gone and consider a “shutdown” of your computer as opposed to a “sleep” or “hibernate” state, if compatible with your business processes. For more energy-saving tips, see the University Sustainability Office’s Hit the Switch / Pull the Plug list.
09: Before your laptop or mobile phone is lost or stolen, Prey!
Within the last 12 months, more than 20 laptops, one desktop and one netbook have been stolen on NC State’s campus. Campus Police recovered five stolen laptops. If your laptop or mobile phone is ever lost or stolen, having tracking software like Prey installed will make it easier for authorities to find.
The Prey tracking software allows you to install a “tiny agent in your PC or phone, which silently waits for a remote signal – sent from the Internet or a Short Message Service (text message) – to wake up” and contact you with the device’s approximate location. With Prey, you can find out about your device’s hardware and network status, who’s using it (their username) and what they’re doing on it (screenshot of their active sessions). Prey will also allow you to photograph, if you have a webcam, the area in front of the stolen device.
If you provide this information to the authorities, they can help locate your missing device. This free and open source software is currently available for Windows 2000, XP, Vista and 7 (32 and 64 bit available); Mac OS X, Linux and Android.
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Information about OIT News:
OIT News is an electronic news bulletin published monthly
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