Information Technology Updates
Duo accounts that have not used a phone call or SMS passcode since the first of the year will have those methods removed from their Duo account later this week. Duo Push via the Duo mobile app remains the primary and best way for users to interact with UNI's multi-factor authentication solution. Those that are actively using phone calls or SMS for authentication may continue to do so for now.
Duo is migrating from their long-used iframe authentication window to what they have chosen to call the Universal Prompt. When and how we migrate is up to us but there is a deadline of March 30, 2024 when the iframe method will no longer be available.
We are planning to take our first step in this migration this coming Wednesday, February 1. Only logins to Microsoft 365 resources will be affected on Feb 1. There will be several differences that you may see:
- The appearance of the Duo prompt. See the guide page link below for samples.
- The way in which Duo will prompt for your second factor, i.e., a Push may happen automatically if that is the most secure method available for your account.
- If you need to interact differently with Duo for a login, cancel the first choice used and click "Other options" to choose a different method.
- The method that you use for that application will become the default method for your next use of that same application.
- If you need to change that default, cancel the request, click "Other options", and choose your new default method.
If you have questions about this change or the options available to you, please contact the Service Desk at 319-273-5555.
All details and information about Duo's Universal Prompt may be found at https://guide.duo.com/universal-prompt
Google announced in 2021 that unlimited storage is no longer available for education customers and will soon enforce a 100TB total storage limit. UNI responded to this announcement by purchasing Google Plus licensing for students, faculty, and staff which took our total storage allocation to 320TB for campus. Unfortunately, even with some voluntary cleanup by faculty and staff, our current storage use is 325TB and continues to rise. Action must be taken this year to keep us under the 320TB threshold that Google will impose on us in 2024.
Users of Google Workspace services at UNI will begin to see storage quotas applied to their individual Google accounts and Shared Drives in January 2023. Quotas will be applied in a way that business processes will not be disrupted. UNI Information Technology is required to set quotas on Google Shared Drives or Google will apply them for us. For users and departments that are well over potential storage quotas, UNI Information technology will reach out to discuss alternate storage options.
Please review this page for more information on storage quotas, alternate storage options, and UNI’s strategy to stay under Google imposed storage limits. For tips on how to reduce your Google storage, please see this article.
We took a break during the pandemic but the Phishing Education project is returning this spring. With the help of our vendor, realistic phishing messages will be sent to faculty and staff over the coming months. No punitive action will result from this exercise. All individual results will be kept private although large scale results and trends may be shared with appropriate partners. The sole purpose of the project is to educate the community and provide examples of things to watch for in real-life phishing messages.
Mobile devices, such as smartphones, smart watches, and tablets, continue to advance and innovate at an astonishing rate. As a result, you may be replacing a new device as often as every year. Unfortunately, you may not realize just how much personal data are on your devices — far more than your computer. Below we cover the different types of data on your mobile devices and how you can securely wipe your device before disposing or replacing it. Read more at https://www.sans.org/newsletters/ouch/disposing-mobile-devices/
The holiday season is a time when people are especially vulnerable to scams. This is because they are busy and often have their guard down. Criminals take advantage of this by circulating fake e-gift cards, posing as charities, targeting specific demographics, and so on.
- E-gift card scams
- Charities
- Demographic targeting
- Subscription renewals
- Crypto scams
More detail can be found at https://blog.knowbe4.com/send-this-to-your-users-5-top-scams-to-watch-out-for-this-holiday-season
The phishing "impersonation" problem is something that is very hard to deal with from a technical perspective:
- There are LOTS of people to impersonate (virtually any supervisor is a target)
- Impersonation can take many forms, e.g.,
- just a name in the body of the message
- a personal name associated with the sender
- an external address that looks like it belongs to the person being impersonated
- It's up to the recipient to apply a "smell" test:
- Does the real sender match the impersonated sender?
- Does the message come from the impersonated sender's UNI email address?
- Does the content and what's shared from where make sense?
- Remain skeptical about the authenticity of the message
- Perhaps even contact the impersonated sender, not by replying to the questionable message but by reaching out via direct email, a phone call, or a face-to-face question.
If the message seems at all odd, it almost certainly is a phishing attempt. Better to think a real message is phishing than vice versa! You will be forgiven (or certainly should be!).
Information Technology has transitioned the University's main login method for Zoom Video Conferencing and Phone to SSO (which stands for Single Sign On). This change comes as part of the Zoom Phone rollout across campus as IT looks to monitor Zoom license usage more closely.
Faculty, staff, and students may begin to use the SSO sign in option for Zoom now while the Zoom Login option continues to work. However, beginning in August 7, 2023, the Zoom Login sign in functionality will cease to work and the SSO option will be required.
More detailed instructions on how to sign in using the SSO option can be found here. As always, if you have any questions or concerns, please don't hesitate to reach out to us by opening a ticket via Service Hub or by getting in touch with the IT Service Desk by calling 319-273-5555 or by emailing them at servicedesk@uni.edu.
Digital teaching today requires resilience – the ability to keep helping your learners succeed no matter what. Join other educators for a day of idea sharing about what helps you rise every day. Whether you're full or part-time faculty, a teacher, lecturer, instructional designer, learning technologist, or any other instructional role, this symposium will further your familiarity and understanding of learning technologies. Learn more at the Blackboard Learn Digital Teaching Symposium page and sign up!
If you use a computer or mobile device long enough, sooner or later something will go wrong. You may accidentally delete the wrong files, have a hardware failure, or lose a device. Even worse, malware may infect and wipe or encrypt your files. At times like these, backups are often the only way you can rebuild your digital life. Continue reading at https://www.sans.org/newsletters/ouch/emotional-triggers-how-cyber-attackers-trick-you/
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