by ·Comments Off on Vulnerabilities: Meltdown and Spectre
What are the vulnerabilities?
A design flaw in computer processors (CPU’s) announced earlier this week introduced two vulnerabilities,?Meltdown (CVE-2017-5754) and?Spectre?(CVE-2017-5753 and CVE-2017-5715). 
Meltdown primarily affects Intel CPUs and a demo code has been released to exploit the vulnerability. Many vendors have already released patches to address Meltdown. Because of the nature of the vulnerability, these patches may impact performance. Spectre?not only affects Intel processors but also AMD and ARM processors. This flaw is harder for attackers to exploit, but may be more difficult for companies to fix.?
 
What is the risk?

These bugs could allow hackers to steal data from your devices through malicious software or a hacked website, however there are currently no reports of this vulnerability being exploited by hackers. These vulnerabilities affect computer hardware dating to the mid-1990s, so updates to operating systems such as Windows, macOS, Linux, Android, and iOS are required to protect devices from these flaws.

 
What should I do?
Patching this vulnerability on servers, endpoints, and mobile devices is the only way to ensure it will not be exploited. Due to the large number of systems impacted, patching solutions will vary in both availability as well as potential impact. Denison ITS staff will test and deploy patches to College-managed technology resources (including College-owned computers), prioritizing based on system criticality.  
 
For your personally owned devices — including smartphones, tablets, home computers, etc. — we recommend you use your device’s software update feature to make sure you are updated to the latest versions. This includes updating web browsers like Chrome and Firefox to the latest versions, which contain some protections against Spectre and Meltdown. Some manufacturers will be releasing updates in the weeks to come, so we recommend you continue to check your device’s update features for new versions. If you are running an old, unsupported operating system, you may need to update to a newer operating system version. 

by ·Comments Off on Completed: Planned interruptions for network drive access and printing on Tues. 1/9/18 between 4:00am and 7:30am

File and print server updates are complete. Please report any issues to the ITS Help Desk at 740-587-6395 or helpdesk@denison.edu (see www.denison.edu/its/helpdesk for hours).

Original post:
ITS is planning to install latest updates on servers hosting shared network drives (PERSONAL, SHARED, MEDIA, SCRATCH, etc) on Tuesday 1/9/18 between 4:00am and 7:30am. As these updates are being applied, there will be outages for the above network drives and printing while servers are updated and rebooted to complete installation. Please do not update files stored on the network file servers during these time periods.

by ·Comments Off on Monthly Cybersecurity Newsletter – December

December edition:

Lock Down Your Login

(https://securingthehuman.sans.org/newsletters/ouch/issues/OUCH-201712_en.pdf)

OUCH! is the world’s leading, free security awareness newsletter designed for the common computer user. Published every month and in multiple languages, each edition is carefully researched and developed by the SANS Securing The Human team, SANS instructor subject matter experts and team members of the community. Each issue focuses on and explains a specific topic and actionable steps people can take to protect themselves, their family and their organization.

by ·Comments Off on Complete: Banner Maintenance and Upgrades – Saturday, 12/09 – 5:00 AM – 4:00 PM

Update: (1:00 PM)

The Banner maintenance and upgrades have been completed.

If you encounter any issues with Banner or Self-Service Banner (SSB) after these upgrades, please contact the Help Desk @ x6395 or helpdesk@denison.edu. The Help Desk will reply as soon as possible during regular business hours (see www.denison.edu/its/helpdesk for hours).

ITS will be performing Banner (INB) and Self-Service Banner (SSB) maintenance, this Saturday, 12/09 from 5:00 AM to 4:00 PM. Banner, Self Service and all related systems such as Xtender, Jaggaer (formerly SciQuest) e-procurement, Cognos, and portions of MyDenison that rely on Banner data will be unavailable during this maintenance window.

When the maintenance work is completed, this post will be updated with additional information.

by ·Comments Off on Regarding a newly-discovered Mac vulnerability

On the afternoon of November 28, 2017, information came to light concerning a newly-discovered security vulnerability affecting Apple’s newest computer operating system, macOS 10.13 (A.K.A “High Sierra”). This bug allowed anyone with physical access to a Mac computer — if running the latest operating system — to enjoy total control of that device, with access to all files, folders, user data, settings, and etc.

On the morning of November 29, Denison ITS staff identified which university-owned computers had the potential to be affected by this issue, and proactively deployed a fix. We have no reason to believe any Denison-owned equipment was compromised as a result of the vulnerability.

Apple has also now released an official software “patch” to address this problem, which we will be incorporating into future versions of our official software image.

To note:

  • This vulnerability is specific to macOS 10.13 (“High Sierra”) ONLY. It does not affect earlier versions of the Mac operating system.
  • As previously stated, ITS has patched all on-campus, university-owned devices to protect against this vulnerability. If you use a university-owned Apple computer at home (which you manually updated to macOS 10.13) — or own a personal computer running this operating system — we recommend that you download and install Apple’s official software patch which you will find in the App Store. Complete installation directions can be read here: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201541

 

by ·Comments Off on Announcing Gartner Campus Access in MyDenison

Denison community members now have access to Gartner Core Research. The link to “Gartner Research” can be found on the MyApps tab within MyDenison.

Gartner is the world’s leading research and advisory company, helping business leaders across all major functions in every industry and enterprise size with the objective insights they need to make the right decisions.

 

Campus Access Benefits to Faculty and Students

Researchers and academic staff
• Plan courses that are relevant and innovative for business and IT
• Access data and information to substantiate the evidence in research
• Use a common business language
• Offer materials that can complement lectures and seminars
• Leverage expert opinion when drafting dissertations and research papers
• Benchmark and appraise commercial opportunities related to research initiatives

Students
• Gain exposure to real-life business case studies, trends and expert opinions
• Enhance practical understanding of how organizations have re-engineered their
processes to increase revenues, reduce costs, and increase market share
• Understand and keep up to date on technologies and tools available
• Obtain validation and research for papers
• Discover how organizations improve operational effectiveness
• Easily find and download documents that enhance insight and understanding
of subjects and courses

by ·Comments Off on Completed: Planned Outage: Campus Wide Internet Outage, Wednesday 11/22/17 5:30-6am

Update 11/22/17 6:00am:

The network updates are complete. Please report any network issues to the ITS Help Desk at 740-587-6395 or helpdesk@denison.edu. The Help Desk will reply as soon as possible during regular business hours (see www.denison.edu/its/helpdesk for hours).

Original Post:

ITS will be performing network maintenance on Wednesday 11/22/17 from 5:30-6:00am which will result in the loss of the internet campus wide.

Please do not edit files over the network or submit information online during this time period as your work may be lost when the network outages occur.

This post will be updated when the work is complete. If you experience any network connectivity issues after this time, please contact the ITS Help Desk at 740-587-6395 or helpdesk@denison.edu.

by ·Comments Off on Completed: Planned interruptions for network drive access and printing on Tues. 11/21/17 between 4:00am and 7:30am

File and print server updates are complete. Please report any issues to the ITS Help Desk at 740-587-6395 or helpdesk@denison.edu (see www.denison.edu/its/helpdesk for hours).

Original post:
ITS is planning to install latest updates on servers hosting shared network drives (PERSONAL, SHARED, MEDIA, SCRATCH, etc) on Tuesday 11/21/17 between 4:00am and 7:30am. As these updates are being applied, there will be outages for the above network drives and printing while servers are updated and rebooted to complete installation. Please do not update files stored on the network file servers during these time periods.

by ·Comments Off on Please Disregard “ITS Help Desk Online Account Information” Email

As a result of an upgrade to the ITS ticketing and inventory management system today, an email was automatically sent by the system titled “ITS Help Desk Online Account Information”. Apologies for any confusion resulting from that message. There is no special password for the ITS Help Desk Online system, it is the same password you use when logging into any service that uses the BigRedID login page (eg. MyDenison or Denison Apps).

REMINDER: you can visit ITS Help Desk Online at helpdesk.denison.edu to submit tickets, view the status of tickets, or search FAQs.

If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact the ITS Help Desk at 740-587-6395 or helpdesk.denison.edu.