Celebrating Our 500th Knowledgebase Searcher for Help Desk Self Service!
Sometimes it’s just easier to do something yourself.
For example, it is not that going to the bank is bad, it is just easier to use an ATM or do your banking online; there is a convenience factor of still being able to bank even when the bank is closed.
That’s why, for the past 18 months, we have made available an online IT request system linked together with a searchable database of computer issues and how to solve them. Help Desk Self Service gives you access to technical resources even when the Help Desk is closed.Today we are celebrating our 500th Help Desk Self Service user login and search of the online knowledge base.
Of the 1,000 people that have logged in to create an online request (what we call a “ticket”) with Help Desk Self Service, half of you have also used the system to solve your own issue.
There is much more to Help Desk Self Service than just searching for answers and creating tickets. You can also see and access the latest articles in BroncoBytes, browse a list of the most common technical issues, and check that status of any tickets you’ve submitted to the Help Desk over the phone, via email, or online.
So for those of you that haven’t yet tried Help Desk Self Service, give it a spin. To help you along, we’ve made a video that explains how it works:
Read more about Help Desk Self Service on the Help Desk website.
For those that have used it, we would like to know what additional information you would like to see in Help Desk. Please shoot us an email with your ideas and suggestions!
October is National Cyber Security Month. Make cyber security a priority; learn more at staysafeonline.org
Google Docs has a nifty feature that allows you to publish any document as a web page. When you’re ready to publish your document/spreadsheet/presentation, make sure you have the document open and click Share > Publish as web page.
You’ll then be presented with a page asking if you want to re-publish the document on the web if any future changes are made, as well as whether anyone in the world can view the document, or if only Boise State employees can view it by signing in to their Google Apps accounts?
At this point, you can click the Publish document button and have your document be accessed on the web.
Here’s the kicker; even if you click the checkbox for “Viewers must sign in…,” the contents of your document may still be available to anyone on the web. Why?
If you create a link to your published document on a website that is searchable by Google, Google’s search application will index that document.
So, if I publish a Google Document as a web page and then put a link to that web page on the Help Desk website, Google will index the web page. Even if I specify the document can only be viewed by people entering a Boise State Google Apps username and password, Google’s search engine will cache the document while indexing it, ensuring it’s available to anyone online.
This means you need to exercise caution in publishing your Google Docs as web pages. If you have any information whatsoever in your document not meant for the general public to view, and you publish the Google Doc as a web page, do NOT provide a link to the document on a website.
Questions about Google Docs security? Call the Help Desk at 208.426.4347, or email us at helpdesk@boisestate.edu
October is National Cyber Security Month. Make cyber security a priority; learn more at staysafeonline.org
When news recently broke about the tens of thousands of purloined Hotmail, Yahoo!, AOL and Gmail account passwords posted on the internet, once again the concept of forcing frequent password changes came to the fore.
The security firm Sophos estimates 40% of internet users have the same password configured for every website requiring credentials for access; many people see no difference between using the same password for posting MySpace entries as for accessing a bank account. But if you’re one of those 40% and just one of your account are compromised, they all become compromised.
One of the primary purposes of changing a password on a regular basis is, of course, to prevent someone from finding that password and using it to access your account. We know how much annoyance our State of Idaho-mandated 90-day password expirations causes some of you; many of you have been perfectly happy to tell us in colorful terms just how much you dislike changing your password every three months.
But with the myriad of ways available to lure people into providing their passwords, to surreptitiously install software on your computer to log your keystrokes and remotely send your password, or to hack into accounts using brute force techniques that can crack simple passwords within seconds or minutes, the advantages of changing your locks every three months rather than risking your data falling into the wrong hands hopefully outweighs the vexation.
For more info on resetting your University account passwords, see our Help Desk website.
By the way, the post popular Hotmail password on the list of over 10,000 stolen passwords posted online?
123456
October is always a special time around our offices, not because of Fall weather or Halloween, but because we once again get to revel in National Cyber Security Awareness Month!
In the past year, the threats to your personal cyber security have increased, becoming more sophisticated. Recently, 10,000 Hotmail account names and passwords were posted on a public website after having been obtained through phishing attempts or via data received from keylogging programs (software surreptitiously installed on computers that records and reports your keystrokes).
Thousands of other account names and passwords from AOL, Yahoo! and Gmail accounts were posted on other websites as well, the data again captured under false pretenses.
Each year, a handful of Boise State email account owners still respond to phishing attempts by unwittingly divulging their personal information as a result of responding to junk email messages or being lured to malicious websites by malware (malicious software) embedded in web pages stumbled across while surfing the internet.
Just in the past couple of days the Help Desk has received numerous queries from employees concerned about the following phishing email that has circulated to many University email addresses:
Dear Email user,
This message is from Administration centre Maintenance Policy verified that your mailbox exceeds its limit, you will be unable to receive new email, To re-set your SPACE on our database prior to maintain your INBOX, you must click the link below.
Click Here: https://secure.bluoctane.cyk//S8KBDHHDS4
(If the link above does not appear clickable or does not open a browser window when you click it, copy it and paste it into your web browser’s Location bar.)Thank you for your cooperation.
Admin Help Desk
Your first clue this type of email is not from the OIT Help Desk should be that we don’t employ ten-year olds from England to write our communications. The second clue is the email is from a non-University address. Your third clue should be being asked to click to a website not affiliated with the University.
We did appreciate the number of people who forwarded this email to us out of concern for other people who may not have realized it was fake, along with those individuals who solicited our advice because they were unsure if the email was legitimate. Gmail will often place a banner at the top of emails it believes are phishing emails:
Along with phishing emails, one of the most successful recent purveyors of cyber insecurity has been the fake “your computer has been infected by a virus – click here for free antivirus tools!” type of pop-up message that appears while you’re on the web:
The infamous AV2009 scam from 2008
I came across a particularly interesting example of this type of malware propagation last month while visiting the New York Times website on a quiet Sunday afternoon. I noticed a blurb on the site referencing a malware pop-up notice originating from an advertiser the Times had contracted with:
It initially seemed odd to me that the Times hadn’t been able to block this advertisement by the time they reported on it. A few minutes later the pop-up appeared on my screen, which directed my computer to a fake page showing a depiction of a Microsoft Windows “My Computer” screen purportedly proving my computer was infected with a virus (all the more ironic as I was using a Mac):
It turned out the Times (one of the most popular websites on the planet) had been duped by an advertiser and was being used as a conduit to spread malware for an extended period of time before the Times website staff was able to put a halt to the offending ad. The company posted a full explanation the following day. However, an unknown but likely substantial number of web browsers had already been “taken over” by the malware ad, proving even websites with good security reputations can’t always be relied upon for safe browsing.
What can you do to protect yourself? We’ve detailed safe computing tips and behaviors many times before, but what it really comes down to is using common sense:
- Don’t trust a website to tell you your computer is infected with a virus.
- Always run current, valid antivirus software on your computer (University faculty and staff are eligible for free antivirus software).
- Never respond to requests via email for personal data.
- If a pop-up window or other browser window appears asking you to click on something unrelated to the site you’re viewing, do not click on it just to make it “go away.” Instead, close your browser if necessary. If the problem continues, consult your desktop support staff.
For more safe computing cyber security tips, visit staysafeonline.org
For the second time in the last few months, OIT recently sent out a survey to gauge campus opinion regarding Google Apps for Education. Nearly 50% of faculty (and 45% of staff) told us they feel more efficient with Google Apps than they did with GroupWise, with almost 30% of faculty (40% of staff) saying they feel less efficient. However, over 40% of respondents said they believed they’d feel more efficient a year from now.
All in all, the data shows the campus is becoming more comfortable with Google Apps, particularly as people learn more and more about the many features and advantages the software has to offer.
You can read our complete survey results via the Help Desk’s website.
A University-purchased laptop was recently found discarded in the trash in a building on campus; a University employee had thrown it away because he no longer wanted it.
After long and faithful service, even the most dedicated computers need to be carted away, never to be used again. Some computers get there sooner than others. But computers, monitors, printers and other electronics are filled with heavy metals and other substances the local landfill doesn’t want.
They’re also full of data we don’t want to lose.
To ensure proper disposal of electronics or any surplus property, you will want to get in touch with Facilities,Operations and Maintenance (FOM). They take care of salvage and disposal of computer equipment on campus. Simply print out their nifty form online, fax it in, and they’ll come and pick up your equipment.
But it isn’t always FOM staff that comes to haul away computers and peripheral equipment; the Help Desk is also involved. We work closely with FOM to ensure computers are properly scrubbed clean of any information before they leave campus. This protects not only the University from losing data, but also protects you from identity theft.
So before you toss that unwanted computer in the garbage, make sure to contact FOM for proper disposal.
Idaho State University has embraced the golden path to cloud computing by implementing Google Apps for Education on their campus.
We’d like to welcome ISU to the Google Apps family, and are happy we could provide them with content for their Google Apps support website!
What’s the biggest holdup right now for OS X Snow Leopard support on University-owned computers? Symantec still hasn’t release an enterprise-version of their anti-virus client that works with Snow Leopard.
Until that’s released, we can’t complete our testing and implementation of support for OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard. We should have more information on this in October.
Meanwhile, if you ignored our support info from August and upgraded to Snow Leopard (10.6) on a University-owned computer but are having issues, the Help Desk would be happy to assist you in rolling back your computer to Leopard (10.5) until Snow Leopard support is officially available.
This year the OIT Help Desk wants to do something different for Homecoming, and it’s something you can join in on. We are decorating our Google Calendars.
Google recently added team sport schedules to their list of calendars. Within Google Calendar, click on New: Sports Calendars > Browse Interesting Calendars, and you’ll find calendars for the Boise State Broncos under “Sports.”
When you subscribe to a Bronco’s calendar, you’ll see every game listed, updated in real time with the score as the game progresses.
Now the twist. We are not the only ones that have noticed this feature. According to Google’s College Football Calendar Trends site, Boise State is currently ranked 57th on the list. The Oregon Ducks are ranked 29th! At least we are ahead of the Fresno State Bulldogs and our Homecoming competitors, the UC Davis Aggies (currently 80th and 127th, respectfully).
Join us in moving up the rankings by adding the Boise State Broncos to your Google Calendar and Go Broncos!
As you have been getting familiar with Gmail and Google Calendar, you may have noticed other available Google Apps applications, such as Google Sites.
Google Sites allows you to quickly and easily create websites that can be shared and edited by others, and you don’t even have to know a lick of HTML to do so.
Here at the Help Desk, we use Google Sites for several different purposes, including interdepartmental collaboration, procedural instructions and information repositories.
The Help Desk (and other OIT departments) are constantly working on projects requiring collaboration between several team members who are often housed in different campus locations. A Google Site shared with the various teams is a great way for us to assign responsibilities, keep track of time lines, add documentation and keep track of comments on our progress.
The OIT Help Desk's Google Site
We also use Google Sites to post instructions regarding processes and policies. The ease of sharing and editing Google Sites is a great tool to use as an electronic bulletin board. We can quickly and easily create a Google Site for all in our department to view and edit as needed. For example, our Computer Account Request processes are thoroughly detailed on our internal Help Desk Google Site. Each team member has the ability to update the processes as needed as procedures change; we no longer need to email changes to an individual to do the work of updating the site.
We have also utilized Google Sites as a knowledge base. As an example, the Help Desk links all of our staff meeting minutes (in Google Doc format) on a Site page so team members may review what was discussed at any prior meeting, as well as easily search and reference all of our past weekly meeting minutes. We also have devoted a portion of our Site to past documentation, processes and projects (fittingly called the “Ancient Archive”).
Interdepartmental collaboration, procedural instructions and information repositories are just some of the ways Google Sites may be used from an administrative perspective. Google Sites is also a great technology tool for the classroom. Google Sites at Boise State have been used to create and display student artwork, post detailed syllabi, discuss research findings, provide information on upcoming seminars, etc. Individual students or groups can create Google Sites for class project collaboration, and instructors and students can collaborate in class using Sites. The possibilities are limitless.
The OIT Help Desk is currently offering a brief one-hour Google Sites training class, providing participants with information on how to add different types of information to a Google Site, as well as presenting real-world examples of how Google Sites are being used by the campus community. To register for a class, see the Help Desk’s website.
For useful tips on how to create Google Sites for your needs, see the Help Desk’s Google Sites How-To webpage.
