Data Center Downtime Friday

Scheduled Downtime: 7:00pm Friday, April 5 to 2:00am Saturday, April 6
Services Impacted: Blackboard Learn, Chico State VSL, Others
Anticipated Availability: 2:00am Saturday, April 6

On Friday, April 5, we will be performing maintenance in the campus data center that will require significant downtime for multiple campus systems. During the window of 7:00pm Friday, April 5 until 2:00am Saturday, April 6, Blackboard Learn and the Chico State Virtual Software Library, as well as many departmental servers and applications will be taken offline and will be unavailable.

Steps have been taken however to ensure that some critical services will remain online during the maintenance. The CSU, Chico Web site, the Portal, Insight Reporting, Bay, Exchange email and WildcatMail (including Google Apps for Education) will remain available and are not expected to be impacted by the maintenance

Educause Student Technology Survey

In March 2013 undergraduates of CSU, Chico will be invited via email to participate in the Educause Center for Applied Research Technology Survey. The results of this survey are very important to us and will help us determine future technology direction. Participation in the study is voluntary, and responses are completely confidential. By completing this survey, you will be eligible to win either a $50 or $100 gift certificate to Amazon.com! For more information click here.

Spam from L****zone

We have received numerous reports of unsolicited e-mail being sent to the campus from L****zone. This company is not allowed to solicit CSU, Chico. We have submitted a complaint with Google (their sending email address provider), but cannot easily block them from sending messages to the campus community since they are creative in their e-mailing strategy. We have obscured the name here and in our example of the email to limit our free advertising of their service. 

Students should be aware that using such 'services' may be in violation of the Policy on Academic Integrity; see:http://www.csuchico.edu/prs/EMs/2004/04-036.shtml

We recommend deleting messages from this organization when received, and that you do not visit their site.

See the example titled "1/28/13 Subject: We need your help (from L*****zone.com)" on our wiki phishing scam page: https://wiki.csuchico.edu/confluence/x/PBIAAQ

Critical Java Vulnerability - User Action Required

Many computer security firms and the Department of Homeland Security are advising users to disable or uninstall Java on their PCs and Macintoshes in the wake of a “zero day” security flaw that is actively being exploited by hackers and malware.  All versions of Java from version 4-7 are vulnerable, although there are only reports of version 7 being exploited so far.

Users might be invited via email to visit a malicious web page (or accidentally stumble upon such a page) that could allow a remote attacker to execute arbitrary code on their computer. This could be a wide range of things, such as infecting the computer with malware, installing key loggers, and more.

We recommend that all users disable Java via the Java control panel or in their preferred web browser at this time on their campus and home computers using the instructions provided on java.com:

http://www.java.com/en/download/help/disable_browser.xml

The trade-off to disabling Java is that you may not be able to use some websites or web applications that require Java. Some functions in campus systems such as PeopleSoft and BB Learn, for example, require Java. If, after disabling Java you find that you cannot perform your work, you may wish to re-enable Java and refrain from any web browsing on that machine or contact ITSS for a consultation.

New Google Application Promotion

IT Service Catalog Promotion

IT Service Catalog

The IT Service Catalog is now online. Faculty, staff and students can search or browse to find information about hundreds of services that IT provides to campus users and then order most of those services directly from the catalog. From email accounts and web site design to network moves and server hosting, you'll find it all in the IT Service Catalog.

WildcatMail Accounts Changes

Google is implementing a change in infrastructure that affects users who have a Google Apps for Education account (e.g., WildcatMail configured as username@mail.csuchico.edu) and who also use applications that are not enabled at CSU, Chico such as Blogger, Reader, Picasso, and Gmail.  Some WildcatMail accounts conflict with these other Google accounts and will need to be reconfigured.  People with multiple Google accounts may wish to enable the Multiple Sign-in option as well.  More information on these changes is available at WildcatMail and Google Account Changes.

New Google Applications Activated

In addition to the original core applications that have been available since 2009, including WildcatMail, Docs, Calendar, Sites, Chat, and more recently Maps, 18 additional Google Apps have been activated for use in the CSU, Chico Google Apps for Education Domain. These include the most requested applications such as YouTube, Picasa, Groups, Reader, Moderator, Google+, and more. Students, faculty and staff can now authenticate to any of these services using their WildcatMail credentials. More information here:  https://wiki.csuchico.edu/confluence/x/sYUdAw

Network Security & VPN

In an ongoing effort to safeguard the campus computing environment, campus wired and wireless networks are constantly monitored for potential security threats.  Wireless device-to-device connectivity such as wireless printing from a laptop to personal wireless printers, controlling a wireless device using a wireless laptop, or using an iPhone to control a presentation on a wireless laptop computer, are examples of restrictions already in place. (Note: this does not affect wireless printing using the new GoPrint solution in the labs.)

To further safeguard network communications when you are off campus it is strongly recommended that Faculty, Staff, and Students connect using a VPN client.  Information about Virtual Private Networking (VPN) and instructions are available on installation and use of VPN.

Please be suspicious of any email requesting you to login with your account credentials and forward phishing emails to: itss@csuchico.edu

Examples of phishing attempts.

If you accidently submitted information after following an email link, please change your password immediately using the links on our site menu.

PC users should also make sure their Windows Updates are kept current along with definitions for anti-virus software.