It's (computer) patching time again
by the editors, InfoTech Tuesday
published June 20, 2006
New patches were released June 13, 2006, it is time to patch your computer software with critical updates. Both Microsoft and Apple publish security/critical updates for their operating systems. Use the Microsoft Windows Update service and the Apple Downloads site.
Distance-learning conference scheduled Aug. 3-4
by J. Bacon, Summer Institute Coordinator, and the editors, InfoTech Tuesday
published June 20, 2006
More than 160 faculty and staff from across Kansas and Missouri will
meet for the 7th Annual Colleague to Colleague (C2C) Summer Institute on
Distance Learning and Instructional Technology Aug. 3-4 (Thursday-Friday)
at the KU-Edwards campus. The Institute, sponsored and
coordinated by C2C and Johnson County Community College, will focus on topics and issues related to
distance learning. For more information, check out this week's featured
sessions, sponsors, and other news in the SIDLIT newsletter.
To register for the Institute, go to the SIDLIT 2006 page
and click on the online registration form.
Registration is free, but attendance is limited. Be sure to indicate the days you plan to attend.
Registration will close 10 p.m. Tuesday, July 18. To be added to the waiting list, e-mail
jbacon@jccc.edu.
The Institute
is open to all colleges and universities in the State of Kansas and Missouri, members of the KC REACHE consortium,
and guest institutions.
Use TinyURL to create shorter web links
by K Glover, Information Technology Assistance Center
published June 20, 2006
Would you prefer to click this URL: http://tinyurl.com/q5psq
or this URL:
http://www.eric.ed.gov/ERICWebPortal/Home.portal?_nfpb
=true&eric_viewStyle_=list&ERICExtSearch_Search
Value_0=podcasting&ERICExtSearch_SearchType_0=kw&
;pageSize=10&eric_displayNtriever=false&eric_display
StartCount=1&_pageLabel=RecordDetails&object
Id=0900000b805f1277&accno=EJ728916
?
You can turn a giant URL into something smaller by going to TinyURL.com, a
free Internet
service site that condenses web addresses (URLs). The site states that the URL
never breaks in e-mails or expires. (Note: If the original link breaks,
the tinyURL may not work either.)
Housing and Dining gets training on new food service system
by B. Kuntz, Information Systems Office
published June 20, 2006
The Information Systems Office is leading efforts to provide K-State's Housing and Dining Services
with a new food service system. The Food Service System
Replacement project will allow Housing to
modernize its administrative and operating procedures. The new
software, Computrition, will also provide students in Hotel, Restaurant, Institution
Management, and Dietetics with the opportunity to use
a state-of-the-art menu-management program in their classes. Throughout April
and May, the project team worked feverishly to provide data for the
initial in-house training session. Most of the data is related to
items and recipes. The team has been focusing on deleting outdated
items and recipes, updating old items, and re-structuring existing
recipes.
On June 6-7, a Computrition representative came to K-State to
provide training and guidance to the project team. The training helped
the team gain a better understanding on the new system, conceptualize changes that must be made to current
methodologies, and identified remaining work necessary to complete
the various data loads. Data load efforts are expected to continue
throughout the summer at which time testing of the new system can begin.
To follow the project team's journey, see the ISO projects website.
The system is expected to be in use by January 2007.
Replace Windows 98/SE/ME/NT computers before July
by the K-State Security Incident Response Team
published June 20, 2006
K-State departments and individuals have only a few more weeks to replace their Windows 98/SE/ME/NT computers, which will be blocked from the campus network as of July 1. This is due to Microsoft's decision to stop providing security patches after June 30 for Windows 98, Windows 98SE, Windows ME, and Windows NT operating systems. In addition, K-State's antivirus software will not support those operating systems.
Departments interested in replacing these computers should check out the discount on computers that Dell is offering K-State from http://main.itac.ksu.edu/dell_specs.pdf .
Security tip: Think before you click
by A. Hagedorn, Information Technology Assistance Center
published June 20, 2006
Just because it’s summertime doesn’t mean you can be less vigilant about the links you click in Instant Messaging (IM) or attachments you view in e-mail messages. Thinking before you click could protect you from installing a bot, a software program controlled by an outside user or computer without your knowledge. (A collection of computers running bots is called a botnet.) Botnets are often used to launch a denial of service attack on a network, or as a launching pad for spam and other fraudulent activity.
IT by the numbers: Phishing scams in April-May
by H. Townsend, SIRT chair
published June 20, 2006
These numbers from the Anti-Phishing Working Group
(www.antiphishing.org)
are indicative of the growing threat posed by
phishing scams to financial and identity theft.
| Phishing category | Number |
| Phishing reports received in April | 17,500 |
Unique phishing websites in May
(up 360 percent from 3,326 in May 2005) |
11,978 |
| Brands (like PayPal and eBay) hijacked and used in phishing scams
in May (an all-time high) |
137 |
| Average length of time in April that a
phishing website was on the Internet before it was located and shut down |
5 days |
For more details, see the Anti-Phishing Working Group's
May 2006 report
|
