Beware of Hurricane Katrina scams
by the K-State Security Incident Response Team
published Sept. 6, 2005
Should K-Staters decide to make a donation to the Hurricane
Katrina relief efforts, please take caution in submitting information
online. Numerous scams have already been identified, and the list
continues to grow.
Also, be extremely careful with e-mails that claim to have breaking
news or photos from Hurricane Katrina disaster areas. Katrina-related
messages are being used to persuade people to open attachments that
may contain viruses, worms, and other malware.
More recommendations:
- Before making a donation to a relief fund, validate the organization
by contacting them directly or visiting the Better Business Bureau's
Wise Giving Alliance at www.give.org.
- Do not open e-mail messages from unknown
sources that claim to have the latest news about Hurricane Katrina.
- Do not visit unknown websites.
- For a list of legitimate resources,
visit the U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) site's
Hurricane Katrina Information.
E-mail took a holiday? No...
by J. Bell, Computing and Network Services
published Sept. 6, 2005
K-Staters were unable to log in and get their e-mail for about nine hours Monday, Sept. 5 -- from 4 p.m. to
about 1 a.m. Tuesday. The outage occurred over the Labor Day holiday when an expired server security certificate
was replaced.
The new security certificate from the vendor had changes that caused incompatibilities
with several K-State systems, including e-mail sign-in (both individual clients and WebMail) and others requiring
K-State eID/password authentication.
While most e-mail was delivered successfully during this period, a small number of cases
reported that mail was returned to senders with a "try again" message.
Password deadline is one week away
by B. Edwards, Computing and Network Services
published Sept. 6, 2005
Wednesday, Sept. 14, is the deadline for all K-Staters to change the password on their eID for fall 2005.
To change it, sign in at eid.k-state.edu and select the password "change" link
on your eProfile page. For security purposes, passwords cannot be reused within a two-year period.
See the Password FAQs for more details.
Support for victims of Hurricane Katrina
by the editors, InfoTech Tuesday
published Sept. 6, 2005
In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, many K-Staters are wondering how they can help
institutions of higher learning that were devastated by the hurricane.
Helping Victims of Hurricane Katrina: Your Guide to Giving Wisely
is a new consumer alert from the Federal Trade Commission that has tips to help you give wisely.
EDUCAUSE, a nonprofit association to advance higher education using information technology,
has set up a Hurricane Relief Community Exchange
website with related links that provides information and ways to help these institutions.
The federal government's Health and Human Services has published a list of volunteers needed for hurricane
relief efforts, including IT professionals. See volunteer.ccrf.hhs.gov.
Adobe license discounts software for students
by C. Loehr, K-State Student Union Computer Store
published Sept. 6, 2005
This summer, K-State and Adobe entered into a student software-licensing agreement. As a result, a number of
Adobe products are available to K-State students at significant discounts, for both PCs and Macs.
On Aug. 30, the K-State Student Union Computer Store began selling Student Licensing for Adobe
Creative Suite CS2 (Photoshop CS2, Illustrator CS2, InDesign CS2, GoLive CS2, and Acrobat Pro 7).
The cost is $209.90 ($225.00 with tax), which
is a savings of almost 50 percent below the boxed educational price of $399.
This program has been eagerly anticipated, and the store had already collected
60-70 pre-orders. Due to site-licensing restrictions, only K-State students with a valid K-State ID can purchase this product.
Other products are on the Adobe Student Licensing list, including Acrobat Std, Acrobat Pro,
After Effects, Video Collection Std, and Video Collection Pro. These will be available at the store
if sufficient demand exists, as a minimum order of 25 units is required. If instructors are using any of these products
in the classroom, contact Chris Loehr (532-7319, computerstore@ksu.edu)
about carrying the software.
K-State already has a campuswide contract
with Adobe to provide departments with software licensing.
K-State supports Eudora and Thunderbird e-mail clients
by S. Silva, Information Technology Assistance Center
published Sept. 6, 2005
This spring, the E-mail Client subcommittee met to decide which e-mail clients
would be supported at K-State in the coming year. Two new clients were added: Eudora 6.2 for Windows,
and Thunderbird 1.0 for Windows, Mac OS X, and Unix/Linux. E-mail documentation for these clients
was completed Aug. 1. Supported clients are
- Eudora 6.2 for Windows
- Mac Mail 10.3
- Mozilla for Windows, Mac OS X, and Unix/Linux
- Netscape 7.1 for Windows
- Outlook 2000, XP, 2003, and Express 6 for Windows
- Pegasus 4.21c for Windows
- Pine 4.44 for Unix/Linux
- Thunderbird 1.0 for Windows, Mac OS X, and Unix/Linux
- WebMail for all platforms
Extensive documentation has been created, including step-by-step instructions and video tutorials.
Go to the E-mail Documentation page and select
the client of your choice.
| Q/A: IT questions from K-Staters |
by the editors, InfoTech Tuesday
published Aug. 30, 2005
Why was e-mail slow today (Tuesday, Sept. 6)?
E-mail use is traditionally high after a holiday break. Today's e-mail load after the Labor Day weekend
was 50 percent higher than K-State's previous record high in the past year.
Have a question or comment?
TellTuesday@ksu.edu.
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| Web watch |
Blog helps Tulane president communicate in crisis
by the editors, InfoTech Tuesday
published Sept. 6, 2005
To learn more about what a university is experiencing in the aftermath of a
natural disaster, read Scott Cowen's blog. Cowen is
president of Tulane University in New Orleans, and he was informing the public
about emergency management decisions via a blog prior to the onslaught of
Hurricane Katrina.
During the crisis, an emergency website was his only
means of communication to the public. In the days following the hurricane, he
continues to use the blog to inform the public about decisions he and his team are making.
By Sept. 1, he had a more permanent website and
was communicating about issues impacting the university -- including relocation of students and faculty,
the closing of campus for the fall semester, the September payroll, and
more. His latest message is posted on the www.tulane.edu site.
Find a good site? TellTuesday@ksu.edu.
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