FROM THE CIO

Malcolm Rice

In an effort to improve the delivery of information to our Information Technology (IT) users, the Office of Information Technology (OIT) has decided to reduce the frequency of our newsletter from monthly to quarterly. The new schedule will allow us to stay up-to-date on critical happenings in OIT while reducing the number of emails we send. We understand you are busy and receiving a newsletter in your inbox every month can be considered spam. The new quarterly schedule will allow us to inform you of the most important events in OIT without adding additional clutter to your inboxes. To keep informed of the most pressing information regarding OIT, you can check for updates on our website at uah.edu/oit, the OIT project page, or the Client Portal. In addition to these resources, we will send out targeted messages as appropriate. We understand that those sites may not always be enough to answer your questions. If there is something that you do not find on those sites, please feel free to contact us. You can either send us an email at helpdesk@uah.edu or call us at 256-824-3333. We are here to make sure you have the information you need to succeed in your IT-related endeavors. We are excited to move forward with the new quarterly newsletter schedule and look forward to providing our users with the latest and most important information regarding IT. 

WELCOME TO UAH!

Please join us in giving a warm welcome to OIT’s recent new hires: 

  • W. Joseph Alsup, Network Technician I
  • Chelsea Escobar, Software Developer I
  • Oscar Cardona, Information System Analyst III

We are excited to have them with us and look forward to the talent and experience they will bring to our team!

SECURITY

Jeremy Shelley

Data protection is an essential part of the university environment. With the increasing prevalence of remote and hybrid work, it is even more important for us to be vigilant about safeguarding data against unauthorized access. UAH is committed to protecting data and has a Protection of Data (06.01.01) policy in place to ensure data is secure. The policy outlines the responsibilities of the UAH community when it comes to data classification and protection.

UAH's policy outlines four categories of data, each with its own level of protection. These categories are Public Data, Private Data, Sensitive or Confidential Data, and Research Data. Public Data is the least protected and can be accessed by anyone. Private Data is data that should only be accessed by authorized personnel Sensitive or Confidential Data is data that should only be accessed by authorized personnel and is protected by passwords, encryption, and additional security measures. Research Data is data that is collected and stored by researchers in the course of their work and is subject to additional security and privacy requirements. Appendix A of the policy provides more detail on each of these categories as well as how and when this data can be released.

In addition to data classification, UAH's policy also outlines the importance of backing up data, encrypting data both at rest and in transit, and destroying data once it is no longer needed. Backing up data helps to ensure that data can be recovered in the event of a security breach or other incident. Encrypting data both at rest and in transit helps to protect data from unauthorized access. Access to data should be authorized under the principle of least privilege. Finally, destroying data once it is no longer needed is important to protect individuals' privacy and ensure data is not misused. Appropriate methods of destruction include physical destruction of the storage media, degaussing, overwriting, and wiping.

The policy also cautions against storing information in unapproved and non-UAH-owned systems, as this can create additional security risks. By following the Protection of Data policy, UAH is able to protect data and ensure that it is used appropriately and securely.

Multi-Factor Authentication

Single Sign-On is used to access Canvas, myUAH, and several other online resources. Faculty and Staff members who log into anything protected by this technology (SSO) must use Duo as a multi-factor authentication tool. You can add your mobile device (we recommend Duo Push), office phone, and more. If you typically use Duo on your mobile device and end up needing access but don’t have that device, you can contact the OIT Help Desk for a bypass code. See Getting Started with Duo for Multi-Factor Authentication for more information. At this time, very few students are required to use Duo.

Google Applications (UAH email, Drive, Calendar, and more) are now accessible only if you use a different multi-factor verification tool called Google 2-Step verification. UAH faculty, professors emeriti, staff, and students are required to enable 2-step verification. See FAQ's: Google 2-Step Verification Launch for more information.

2023 Annual Cybersecurity Training

OIT is finalizing the 2023 annual cybersecurity training course on Canvas and will publish the link when the course is ready. More details will be coming in a future communication.

Unauthorized Sharing of Copyrighted Materials

This is your friendly reminder that sharing copyrighted materials using UAH networks or systems is a violation of Section 2.0 of the Appropriate Use of IT Resources Policy (06.01.03). When infringements are brought to the attention of OIT, through direct notification or other means, we will take appropriate action to ensure the safety and security of UAH assets.

CHAT WITH GOOGLE

Google Hangouts has been upgraded to Google Chat. On  November 1, 2022, the online page for Google Hangouts began redirecting visitors to Google Chat. Hangouts is no longer available. For more information, click here.

INFRASTRUCTURE

Network Drop Requests

Due to the increase in the price of supplies and equipment, the cost of network drop requests has increased from $250 per drop to $300 per drop. This increase took effect in December 2022.

Network Issues

The Network Infrastructure Team would like to apologize for any inconvenience caused by the issues experienced on both the wired and wireless networks at the beginning of January. We have been able to isolate the root cause of the issue, and implemented a temporary fix to correct the issues while the permanent solution is being implemented.

TIPS & TRICKS

Are You Backing Up Your Files?

What would happen today if your computer suffered a hardware problem or was stolen? Would you have access to a backup of all your important files? What would you do? Backing up your files is often a process that isn’t done regularly or that users assume is happening when it isn’t.

OIT offers a desktop backup solution that backs up the files, from your desktop to a secure storage cloud. This service is available to all UAH faculty and staff at no cost. Each full-time employee may backup data on up to 4 devices. The desktop client must be installed and configured; then it runs silently in the background - automatically and continuously protecting your files.Want to get started? Click here!

Please note:

  • Once your employment with the University ends, you will lose access to the files in the cloud.
  • This solution should not be used for personal files or data protected/controlled by ITAR or EAR.

Please see CrashPlan Cloud for Enterprise - Installing and Generating a Backup and crashplan.com for more information.

CrashPlan Name Change

CrashPlan Cloud for Enterprise is the desktop backup solution that's available to all current UAH faculty and staff. It was known as Code42 for Enterprise until the company separated from Code42 Software in mid-2022. As a result, you may notice inconsistencies in the use of CrashPlan and Code42 branding in the product. This will be addressed in a major app release targeting February 2023.

For more information, please view this CrashPlan Help Center article.

Did You Know?

You can submit a ticket, browse our technical articles, chat with a tech support agent, and more from the OIT Client Portal. Check it out at uah.edu/ithelp (go ahead and bookmark that link; we’re here to help).

BOOKMARKS

(Worth Saving!)

OIT Client Portal

OIT Projects

Banner Upgrade Center

 

KUDOS

In ticket #20226243, Nick Perkins wrote: “I have gained access to Banner through the help of Will Cox, who I believe is a member of your help desk. Can't say enough good things about him, he was a large help.”