Blog No Longer Active

Thank you for coming to the MHC Information Technology Blog.

 Please be advised that this blog is no longer actively maintained.  Page view statistics indicate that this site is being accessed very infrequently and is not serving its purpose of getting information out to the college community.

Feel free to contact me directly regarding any MHC IT related topic.
- Chuck Payne

Passwords Are Like Underwear

You shouldn't leave them out where people can see them.

You should change them regularly.

And you shouldn't loan them out to strangers.

 

Taken from:

http://security.calpoly.edu/sites/security/files/docs/posters/Passwords-Are-Like-Underwear-Poster.pdf

Smart-Phone and Tablet Disposal - Mind Your Data!

Your smart-phone or tablet will often contain a great deal of information about you. So, when it comes time to replace your tablet or smart-phone, be sure you 'wipe' all data from it securely .  This process is usually not difficult; is quick and effective, and will ensure you are not inadvertently passing all sorts of personal information along with your old device.

https://www.securingthehuman.org/newsletters/ouch/issues/OUCH-201205_en.pdf

Protecting Private Information

Have you ever thought about how we, as individuals and as a college, protect the personal information of each other, of our students and employees? It is a difficult challenge, as recent events at PSIs attest (see CBC article ).

As noted in the article, the UBC laptop that was stolen had the hard drive encrypted. Encryption is the use of a cypher algorithm to make the contents of the drive unreadable without the deciphering key. For the last couple of years we have encrypted the hard drives of the laptops we buy for the college, however most of our older laptops are not encrypted. While encryption provides a measure of security if the laptop is stolen, it certainly is not foolproof, and there are many other ways in which data can be accessed, using technology or otherwise.

Trying to put in place technical and procedural measures so that only those who should have access to data can access it is a very large portion of the role of IT departments, ITS at MHC is no exception. No matter what we do, our efforts at security can be completely undermined very easily by thoughtless handling of data. People have busy and ever more complex lives, and spending time worrying about data protection is seldom a priority. However, it is prudent to take a steps to protect our own, our students, and our colleague’s personal information.

The following are examples of things people often do that pose a real risk of compromising security and exposing personal information:

- Sharing passwords

- Housing student personal information on home computers

- Carrying information on unencrypted USB devices (i.e. memory sticks)

- Letting family and friends use a college owned computer

- Storing college data on non-college owned or authorized systems.
This can be unwittingly done by using online backup services like Barracuda, MobileMe, Symantec backup, or IDrive.

- Posting student grades to non-college owned systems.
Yes, people do this! Many learning resource providers offer online grade books that instructors can set up for their students to access. In doing this you are handing student’s personal data over to some corporate entity. At MHC we have a wonderful Blackboard system that can be used to post marks online for students, and all students can access their final grades through the student portal.

- Using a local administrator account on a computer.
If the computer gets hacked or infiltrated by a virus or other malware, the malware or hacker will inherit the security context of the user account it is using at the time of the compromise. If the virus is running on an administrator account, the malware or hacker can alter the computer registry, load and change programs, and adjust settings much easier than if the computer was logged in with a general user account.


As always, with any IT related question or concern feel free to contact the IT Support Centre. They can advise and assist you in the use of the MHC computing environment.

If you are interested, read through other articles and websites related to information and identity security linked to below.

Best Practices for Keeping your Home Network Secure
http://www.nsa.gov/ia/_files/factsheets/Best_Practices_Datasheets.pdf

10 Immutable Laws of Security
http://technet.microsoft.com/library/cc722487.aspx

Royal Bank, Preventing Identity Theft
ttps://www.rbcadvicecentre.com/how-to-protect-yourself-from-identity-theft

Password Strength

Weak passwords are a threat to the security of your information. For a quick test to see if your passwords are strong, try this Microsoft "Password Checker" site:


https://www.microsoft.com/security/pc-security/password-checker.aspx

Trial of Evening Support Services

Based on feedback received last year as we developed the MHC Technology Plan, we will evaluate the demand for evening IT Support Services.  For the Winter 2011 academic term we will expand Support Centre hours until 8:00 PM Monday through Thursday. We will track the number and the type of service requests we get during the evenings to determine if the demand warrants a permanent allocation of additional resources to support evening service.

Starting Tuesday January 3, 2011 the IT Support Centre will be staffed for walk-up, phone, and email support until 8:00 PM Monday through Thursday.

To report technology problems or for assistance, please contact the IT Support Centre.

- Walk up service at window by room B223

- Tel: 403.529.3899
- email:  callcentre@mhc.ab.ca

College Closure and IT Service Over Christmas

Season's Greetings!

MHC is closed from Friday December 23 until Tuesday January 3, 2012.  During this time information technology support is limited to emergency system outages. Address service requests to the Support Centre at callcentre@mhc.ab.ca .  Non-urgent issues will be responded to after the Christmas break.

Thank you

Chuck Payne

'Tis the Season for Online Scams

Hello all,
I subscribe to an IT security newsletter from the the SANS (SysAdmin, Audit, Network, Security) Institute. Scams are ever present online, Christmas and New Years are no exception. I thought this month's newsletter may be helpful in securing your personal information.

http://www.securingthehuman.org/newsletters/ouch/issues/OUCH-201112_en.pdf

- Chuck

Thursday October 20 - Leave Office Computers on Overnight

We would like to ‘push’  the latest version of the F-Secure Client Security software to MHC computers (i.e. install the software over the network to individual computers) during the evening and overnight on October 20. For this to work, the computer must be running. Please leave your computer on overnight Thursday October 20.

Once the software is installed, the computer will reboot. With this in mind please do the following as you leave for the day:

1) Save your work, and close all files.

2) Close all applications (Outlook, Word, Excel)

3) Leave your computer running (you may log out if you wish, but do not ‘Shut Down’)

Your assistance is appreciated.

ITS Initiatives - New Services and Directions

Hello all, and welcome back to a new academic year.

ITS has completed a number of important initiatives to improve IT services at MHC. Below find a brief explanation of some of the ones that may affect you in your work. As always, for more information about IT Services at MHC feel free to contact me. To report technology problems or for assistance, please contact the IT Support Centre by phone, 403-529-3899, email callcentre@mhc.ab.ca, or in person at the IT services help desk, room B 222A.

Chuck Payne

Director, Information Technology

Medicine Hat College

403 529-3870

payne@mhc.ab.ca

Wireless Services

MHC-WiFi Wireless Network

We have moved to authenticated access to the MHC-WiFi network. This means you need to enter your MHC username and password to log onto the system. This should reduce the number of devices that automatically connect to the network, better providing enough ‘leases’ (IP addresses) and enough bandwidth for students and employees.

 For the security of your personal information:

• Read the terms of use on the log-in page, and if you agree to the terms, enter your username and password at the bottom of the page.
• Only connect to the network named MHC-WiFi on campus at MHC. You may at times see other networks that you can connect to. These would most often be ‘rogue’ networks set up by some thoughtful, lovely person to try and get access to your personal information.
• Be wary whenever you use Internet services.

 More Locations

• Wireless access will be available in instructor’s offices in the E, L, S and 3rd floor B-wings soon into this academic year.
• We are exploring the possibility of placing an access point in the H building
• An outside access point will be added to the south side of the T-wing for access around the ‘Tea House’ garden area
• Later during the year, expansion will continue in order to provide more access in heavily used areas (e.g. The Crave, Soft Seat Area)

80% or more of the Medicine Hat Campus main building area will have Wi-Fi access in the coming months.

Content Filtering Removal

Expansion of the MHC wireless services should allow the wireless network to better serve as a research and instructional network. As this network is separated from the ‘wired’ network, isolating it from MHC business systems that house private employee and student information, there is a reduced risk of a hacker or a malware infected computer using the Wi-Fi network to compromise the security of MHC systems.

The Websense Content filtering system will be turned off on the MHC-WiFi network.

 Benefits

•   Students and faculty will be able to use this network to access websites that are blocked by Websense on the wired network. 

Risks

• There is a greater risk that users will be exposed to offensive content or infected websites. Hence the "terms of use" disclaimer posted on the MHC-WiFi log-in page.
• There is a risk that individual users on this network could consume large amounts of bandwidth slowing down access across the network. We are putting bandwidth restrictions in place on the wireless network to try and avoid this problem.

Classroom Equipment Expansion

Nearly all classroom spaces have at least an Internet connected computer and a projector, the final few classrooms without any technology will be outfitted in the coming months.

• For the last year or so, we have put an "Extron" panel in newly equipped rooms. This is a convenient, easy to use, wall mounted push-button panel to select the technology (projector, input) to be used in the room.
• In the most recently completed rooms (about 11 so far) we have put in a video cable direct to the projector so that anyone coming into the room with a computer can use the projector to display their computer (i.e. no need to log in to the network to access the projector). We can provide this ‘direct to projector’ VGA cable in other rooms and would appreciate requests to allow us to prioritize where we include this connectivity. 

SharePoint

• We are in the midst of a project to replace our old SharePoint server named ‘Winky’ with a new server named ‘Source’. 
• Further information will come in the next few weeks explaining the process of moving contents from the old SharePoint system to the new, and setting a date for taking the old system offline.
• Unfortunately it is not possible in Sharepoint to migrate the data directly from the old to new server without the purchase of expensive management tools. We encourage departments to move only what they need to the new site. This is an opportunity to weed unneeded content.
• ITS staff will be available to assist and answer questions.

Blackboard

• Our new Blackboard analyst along with the ETS team is developing a service that will automatically enrol students in Blackboard courses.
• A few instructors have been trialing the process.
• Based on feedback and our ability to make progress, we will be advertising this service broadly in future terms.
• We are working towards an online form where instructors would request new Blackboard course sites, the copying of current sites, and could request automatic enrolments into Blackboard for some or all of their courses.
• At present, all such processes are manual. 

Web VPN Service

Accessing College Services and Data From Off Campus

Last year we put in place a web based VPN service (virtual private network). MHC employees can log in to the service and access network storage locations and key applications needed in their work.

• This service also provides access to each employee’s storage location on the network (The ‘P’ drive, explained below).
• Based on your job role, the VPN will provide access to information and various applications from offsite, including accessing your monthly payroll information, the Course Outline Manager, CampusVue SIS information, course folders and shared departmental folders.
• If logged in on campus,  go here to SharePoint for instructions on accessing the VPN, or feel free to contact the Support Centre for assistance.

P Drive

Network Storage for Your College Files

  

It has been about a year since we have provided an individual network storage location for all employees at MHC, labelled the ‘P’ for ‘personal’ drive. For many employees, this area will provide advantages over storing files on their local office computer:

•  This folder is backed up regularly to our network storage array, greatly reducing the chance that you will lose files if your computer ‘crashes’.
• This folder is accessible from any computer with an Internet connection by logging in to the college’s web VPN service.
• Instructions on accessing the P drive can be found on this ITS blog:
  http://mhcit.blogspot.com/p/faq-and-instructions.html