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August 27, 2010

Internet Security

We'll we've talked about it before, and we'll do it again.
Phishing.
It's when you get an email, that says it's from Ebay or your bank ... or us, and asks you for your password, or gives you a link to login to, or ... whatever. But if you do, then naughty people have access to your information and you spend the next 3-6 months fixing your credit cards, or email account or ... whatever.

Here's the thing: The Internet is not secure. It's not nice. It's not safe. Not really.

You CAN safely surf the internet and bank online and buy things on eBay. CAN. Please don't assume that everything you do online is "safe", "secure" and "anonymous".

Here's a list of digital weirdness to avoid:

You know, we really do like answering questions. Ask us! We like to help. Have you asked 20 times already? Ask again! We'd much rather answer a 20 second question, then have to take your machine for 4 hours and rebuild it from scratch. So would you :)

I'm going to be releasing an Internet Security video soon. It'll give everyone a brief overview of things to do (and not to do) and how to stay safe on the Internet.

Best practice: If you're not sure - don't. Wait and ask us. We're happy to help.

Posted by ellism at 12:47 PM | Comments (0)

Web 2.?

You know...
Web 2.0

It's all the rage... I think. So I tried it. We posted a video attached to a new project, and I setup a Web2.0 interface. Does it work? Sure. But ... does it work? The vote is still out.

I, personally, just don't get it. Why would people want to comment about everything? More importantly - when do they have the time?
Oh well, I guess I'll just have to wait and see.

Posted by ellism at 12:39 PM | Comments (0)

August 19, 2010

VDI

Well, we've got two now. Oracle & VMWare both have solutions that we've implemented in test.
Next week we'll make our final decision and work to put a VDI architecture into production for Fall Term. That gives us just a few weeks to finalize details, test and roll it out to one computer lab on campus. That lab will be in production for Fall Term for load/stress testing and will give us a better understanding of rolling it out to campus. Once we've done that, we can begin migrating things off of the Terminal Servers. That'll mean less maintenance, headache, frustration and we can pour that time and resource into VDI.

Posted by ellism at 3:52 PM | Comments (0)

The Single Sign-On family keeps growing, and growing...

You've heard it here ... now:

WOUAlert
&
BannerINB

can now be accessed via the WOUPortal. Where you ask? Well, next week you'll see the new Single Sign-On bar in all it's glory.

BannerINB users have some additional security requirements but WOUAlert is significantly simplified. Even brand-new users that may not have been uploaded can successfully access WOUAlert via the WOUPortal.

Posted by ellism at 3:42 PM | Comments (0)

August 13, 2010

VPN

Last week Steve (Mountain States Networking), Paul and I worked on setting up some VPN technology. Our security configuration creates quite a bit of complication, for a seemingly simple project. We prepared to setup off-site access VPN, but ran into some of those complications and put that on the backburner.
We then turned our attention to site-to-site VPN (for a TRI Eugene project), and ran into nearly the same issue. With both of those complications, we decided to take a step back and spend a lot more time doing design, etc... before we plunge in again.

Posted by ellism at 12:34 PM | Comments (0)

August 10, 2010

2nd Second Life

Well, I made it.

Mary Bucy told me where to go, and I was able to search the location, teleport and land in the tiny space loaned to us by Montclair State for the PAWSOnline project.

So it's a big TV, a poster and some teleport links. Honestly that's pretty amazing considering how hard I've found it to do much in Second Life. When the summer gets a little further along, Mary should return and I can work with Rene to learn more.

At this point I don't think many WOU students are actively in Second Life, but I'm not ruling out the possibility for the future.

Posted by ellism at 11:02 AM | Comments (0)