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Dr. Hoit's Office
Open Letter to Staff: Dr. Marc Hoit Says Farewell
By now you have probably heard that I have taken a new position as the
Vice Chancellor for Information Technology and CIO at North Carolina State
University in Raleigh. I start my new position September 1. I have to tell
you that I am both excited and apprehensive about this change.
Complete Story at right.
Technology Innovations Advisory Committee (TIAC)
In February, a new committee reporting to ITAC-AT was established. The
purpose of this committee is to:
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Identify emerging technologies relevant to the academic mission of
the University.
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Assess and recommend for analysis specific emerging technologies
that improve the quality of learning and/or reduce the cost of
instruction.
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Analyze the feasibility for implementation at UF of promising
emerging technologies.
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Recommend an adoption strategy for feasible emerging technologies.
Avoid Getting Your GatorLink Account Disabled!
Recently, many UF users have been receiving 'phishing' e-mails, requesting
that users send their GatorLink username and information via e-mail.
According to UF's IT Security team, "'Phishing' is a scam in which
predators attempt to lure people to a fraudulent website, which replicates
a seemingly trustworthy website, to obtain personal information such as
passwords and login information."
Individuals who respond to these e-mails will have their account disabled
and will not be able to access their GatorLink account and e-mail.
Here's What's New at Bridges
The Student Financials Project is set to launch with all new
infrastructure. Access for parents via "CashNet" is included. Planning
groups from five areas are identifying improvements in the ERP systems.
Finally, in conjunction with CNS and AT, Bridges will help
implement
Shibboleth
to improve security with controlled
access to data.
CNS's Network Services and Florida Lambda Rail (FLR) Bring Collaborative
Study Home
Computing & Networking Services (CNS) and Florida Lambda Rail (FLR) have
been instrumental in helping to push high performance computing to the
next level of collaborative study.
The High Performance Computing (HPC) Center machine room now has an 80+
terabyte (TB) pool of storage that will soon be holding data from the
Large Hadon Collider (LHC), a particle accelerator located at CERN, the
European Organization for Nuclear Research near Geneva, Switzerland.
Thanks in part to the efforts of CNS's Network Services, scientists will
be using this storage through UF's Campus Research Network (CRN) and
Florida Lambda Rail (FLR) to look for particles that heretofore have been
unseen.
Proactive Monitoring and Response Pays Off
The Elmore core router had a minor problem on May 1 that could have been
much worse. A recent project to provide additional proactive monitoring of
core routers sent an alert about a failed power supply at 12:22 PM. Senior
Network Engineer Chris Griffin was dispatched and onsite in less than 30
minutes.
Wall-Plate Port Security Implementation July 1st 2008
Effective July 1, 2008, network monitoring and protection methods
(Wall-Plate Port Security) will automatically shut down any Wall-Plate
port showing symptoms of looping, packet storms, attachment of
unauthorized network equipment, or unauthorized
DHCP distribution. Ports shut down will be scanned periodically and will
remain disabled until the problem is cleared. Local subnet managers will
receive email notification when ports are shut down.
UF 1-800 Dial-up Networking Number Retiring July 1, 2008
On July 1, 2008, Computing and Networking Services (CNS)
will withdraw the UF "1-800" toll-free long-distance dial-up (modem)
networking service.
Telecommunications Rates for FY 08-09
CNS Telecommunications recently completed a review of Telecommunication
rates. As announced in a recent DDD memo, the result is a
newly-streamlined
package of rates designed to make bills simpler and save
money for CNS customers.
For more CNS news,
please see our newsletter,
/Update.
High Performance Computing
UF High Performance Computing Teams up with Raid Inc. to Drive HPC to New
Levels
The University of Florida's High Performance Computing Center has chosen
RAID Inc. for a large implementation of over 100 terabytes (TB) of
performance-intensive 4 GB Fibre to SATA-2 storage. The storage solution,
which was designed in clustered architecture, is networked in such a way
to allow shared access not only between multiple research facilities
across campus, but by scientific groups at various educational and
government research facilities that span the state of Florida and the
entire country.
IT Security & YOU:
UF Takes Copyright Violations Seriously
The University of Florida IT Security Team wants to raise your awareness
about copyright violations. Sharing copyrighted material--including music,
movies, software and some intellectual properties--without authorization
is
illegal. It is a violation of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA)
of 1998 and other state and
federal laws.
UF policies support legislation
by prohibiting copyright violations. In addition to legal penalties,
faculty, staff, and students who violate copyright law may face UF
disciplinary action up to and including dismissal.
With your help, we
hope to prevent copyright violations at UF.
Detection and Notification of File Sharing Traffic
Due to a large increase in peer-to-peer (P2P) filesharing and copyright
infringement complaints, the UF IT Security Team has implemented an
automated notification system that will send e-mail notices to network
administrators and WIPA users when P2P traffic is detected.
Security
Incident Honor Roll
We would like to recognize the following UF units as having had ZERO security incidents during the most recent reporting period. This is an important achievement, which represents diligence and hard work on the part of all the IT staff in these units.
Laptop
Security
You hear about it all the time on the news: a laptop is stolen, and it
contains sensitive information that puts thousands at risk.
Not every laptop has that level of information, but what they do hold
could cause enormous problems for you, your department, and the university
if it were ever lost or stolen. The UF IT Security Team has some good
information on keeping your laptop--and the information it contains--safe.
Got Achilles? New Session for UF IT Risk Assessment Tool Training Offered
The next session of the Achilles training class is scheduled for
Wednesday, June 4, 9:00 - 11:00 am at the Center for Instructional
Training and Technology, Turlington 2215.
Please Note: You MUST be in
the
UF Network
Services Contact database for IT Workers in order to attend this
class. You can check to see if you are listed by going to
http://net-services.ufl.edu/cgi-bin/subnet-form.cgi.
Eligible IT workers can go
here
to register.
UF Policy Update at Next Peer2Peer Training Session
On June 18, 2008, Kathy Bergsma, UF IT Security Manager, will be
announcing new UF IT Security Policies as a part of the ongoing Peer2Peer
workshops, presented in conjunction with the IT Training Committee.
The workshop is scheduled from 1:30 - 3:30 pm in rooms B74-75 at the
Reitz Union. As
always, the event is free and open to the public. For this special
Peer2Peer, no registration is required. For more information, see
http://www.at.ufl.edu/p2p/training.php .
IT Training
IT Orientation Set for June 5
The next IT Orientation is set for June 5, 2008, 1:00-4:00 pm in the
CITT classroom, Turlington 2215. Information Technology Orientation for
new University of Florida employees is designed to give those attending an
overview of services available to UF IT employees. The sessions often
become a place for lively discussion among both new and not-so-new
employees who come to see what's new in the IT world.
Web Administration
The Web Administration Phonebook Project
The Family Education Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) is a Federal law that
protects
the privacy of student education records and applies to all schools that
receive funds from the U.S. Department of Education programs. To comply
with FERPA and other statutes, UF Interim Chief Information Officer Marc
Hoit proposed updating the way information is seen by the public through
the UF Phonebook. High level, initial proposals were reviewed by
representatives of the Faculty Senate and Student Government.
Specifications were drafted beginning in June 2007.
Writing for the Web
Chunks, lists, headings and sub-headings--these are the words being thrown
around when the inevitable topic of writing for the Web comes up in the
Office of Web Administration. But the truth of the matter is, writing for
the Web require a new and different approach to information dispersal--and
information is, of course, our line of work.
Google Analytics Code Requirement for Privacy
There has recently been discussion on the Web-Managers-L list regarding
notification needed when Google Analytics is used on a page at UF. The
Privacy Office and Web Administration have reviewed the issues involved
from both privacy and web communincation points of view. To summarize the
privacy issue: Each Web page that includes Google Analytics must clearly
notify the reader of that fact.
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