TechNews

The campus is taking advantage of the relative quiet of spring break to repair critically damaged power infrastructure in the Network Operations Center.

The work is scheduled to be performed from 1 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday, March 30. Power will maintained via mobile power generators to keep the center operating. No disruptions are anticipated. However, if the center were to go offline, access to services through the campus network would be affected.

Students who use the Main Reading Room in Shields Library now enjoy a much stronger connection to the campus wireless network, eduroam.

Information and Educational Technology and the library teamed up to install three wireless access points high on the room’s south wall on Tuesday, March 19. The points can handle more than 300 smartphones, tablets, or other wireless devices at a time. Prior wireless coverage came from access points downstairs.

You might have heard about Duo at UC Davis. For now it’s mainly a concern for faculty and staff, but if you’re a student employee, the news concerns you too. You need to enroll in Duo this spring because you work here.

Here are the details:

If you have questions or would like help enrolling in Duo, come to one of these drop-in enrollment sessions during the week starting Feb. 25. Information and Educational Technology consultants will be available to assist you.

Bring your smartphone, or a token if you intend to use that option. For more information about Duo multi-factor authentication, please see movetoduo.ucdavis.edu.

Here's the schedule (find the locations on the campus map):

Feb. 19 update: Schedule of drop-in sessions is posted here.

As you likely know by now, UC Davis expects all faculty, staff, and student employees to enroll in Duo multi-factor authentication. Adopting Duo will improve the security of privacy and information—UC Davis’, as well as yours.

For a reminder about how Duo works, jump to the end of this article. Meanwhile, here are updates about the progress at UC Davis:

Note: This message was emailed to faculty and staff, including TAs and student employees, on Feb. 1.

Dear Colleagues,

UC Davis is extending the deadline for placing campus email accounts behind Duo multi-factor authentication until later this calendar year. The extension gives the campus additional time to address the complexities of using Duo with certain versions of hardware and email software. This decision was reached in consultation with the Academic Senate Committee on Information Technology, Academic Senate leadership, and other campus partners.

Faculty, staff, and student employees must enroll in Duo multi-factor authentication (MFA) so they can access UCPath, the new UC payroll and human resources system that UC Davis will adopt in March.

Enrolling in Duo will also improve account security at UC Davis overall. MFA is becoming a standard practice to protect information and privacy throughout the University of California, and thousands of people at UC Davis already use Duo to protect their campus accounts.

The Information Security Symposium at UC Davis, a popular and low-cost source of ideas, new information and networking for UC security and compliance professionals, is now accepting proposals for the 2019 conference.

The event occurs June 18-19 on the Davis campus. Registration will cost $125, although the fee will be waived for presenters.

This year’s theme is Connect, Share, Fortify. Sessions will focus on:

If you’re using CrashPlan to back up data on your desktop computer at UC Davis, this change won’t affect you. But if you use the service to back up servers, then you need to find an alternative.

The most recent Information Security Symposium at UC Davis, in 2017, earned great reviews thanks partly to the talented volunteers who helped to plan and support the event.

The planning committee now wants to assemble a similarly capable crew as it starts preparing for the next symposium, to be held at UC Davis June 18-19, 2019. Among other perks, committee members don’t have to pay the symposium’s registration fee and can attend its sessions for free.

The campus upgraded another 17 general-assignment classrooms this summer, adding stronger wi-fi, improved audio, integrated video, ADA-compliant systems, and other fresh technology.

The results are impressive additions to UC Davis classroom tech, although a lot of effort goes into making the work itself look like just another day at the university.

The campus has 130 general-assignment classrooms, and each summer it upgrades more than 10 percent of them – sometimes only the technology, sometimes the entire room.

FBI Agent Justin Lee will discuss cybersecurity in higher education from the FBI’s point of view during a free lunchtime talk from noon to 1 p.m. Oct. 31 in 1003 Kemper.

Any faculty member, student, or employee at UC Davis is welcome. Pizza and water will be available at no cost, while supplies last.

The Information Security Office distributed this letter via various campus listservs this week.

Colleagues,

As the 2018-19 academic year gets under way, we want to share a few thoughts about cyber security relating to current risks, steps you can take to protect yourself, the new UC information security policy, and a few extra events scheduled for National Cyber Security Awareness Month.  

Registration has opened for the Summer Institute on Teaching and Technology, a day of talks and breakout sessions for UC Davis faculty. This year’s theme is “The Digital Learning Environment: Engaging Students in the Classroom, and Beyond.”

If you’re already using Duo at UC Davis, get ready to use it more frequently.

Starting Sept. 6, anyone who now uses Duo multi-factor authentication (MFA) for at least one campus service will begin using it for additional campus services—ones protected by the standard CAS (Central Authentication Service) login, such as myucdavis, the Time Reporting System, and DavisMail.