Monthly Archives: October 2014

News

Four Fall IT Events – Turnitin, NVivo, MATLAB and Cyber Security

Turnitin – Plagiarism Detection & More

October 30, 12:00 – 1:30pm – Healey LL P2 [Light Lunch Provided]

Turnitin is a plagiarism prevention and detection tool available within Blackboard Learn which compares student-submitted papers to a large database including previously submitted papers as well as indexed web content. A representative from Turnitin will demonstrate the product along with its reporting features, the GradeMark tool which allows you to mark up student papers and leave audio comments, and the iPad app which works with GradeMark. Light lunch will be provided. We encourage you to bring your laptops and iPads.
Click here for more information!

NVivo – Qualitative Research Tool

October 31, 1:00pm to 3:00pm – Healey LL P2

Members of QSR International will be on campus to demo some of the new features of NVIVO.  To learn about NVIVO and what it can do for your research, please stop by Presentation room # 2 on October 31st from 1:00pm to 3:00pm.   We have a limited number of licenses which you can use by sending an email to software@umb.edu
Click here for more information!

MATLAB – Technical Computing Language

November 14, 12:00 to 3:00pm – Healey LL P2 
[Light Lunch Provided]

Presentation and discussion of ways to increase your productivity and effectiveness using MATLAB.  Best practices and common pitfalls in writing MATLAB code, explore the use of the MATLAB Profiler to find bottlenecks, and introduce the use of Parallel Computing Toolbox and MATLAB Distributed Computing Server to solve computationally and data-intensive problems on multicore computers and clusters.
Click here for more information!

Cyber Threat Smackdown! – Defending your Digital Devices

Wednesday October 22, 11:00 to 12:15 
Campus Center 3rd floor ball room
An iPad will be raffled off, plus other prizes!

Cyber Security is in the news every day, with stories about the celebrity iCloud photo release, and credit card breaches from Target and Home Depot. October is Cyber Security Awareness Month, and the UMass Boston IT department is hosting an event to help keep your data and devices secure.
Click Here to register for this free event

 

** Have a question regarding software – please email software@umb.edu or visit: http://www.umb.edu/it/getting_services/hardware_software_equipment

News

IT Educational Technology Software Updates

Mathematica – Renewal of License

The annual license for Mathematica has been renewed for another year – until September 15, 2015.  You may download the latest version from the Wolfram portal in the Download Center [http://user.wolfram.com].  Existing users whose activation keys are marked as “auto renew” will not need to do anything.

STATA – Site License – Faculty, Staff & Labs

The 5 campuses have jointly subscribed to a site license for STATA – a data analysis and statistical software application.  To obtain a copy of the software, please send an email to software@umb.edu.  The license allows us to install the software on faculty, staff and lab computers [university owned].  For students, there is a “student” version which you can purchase from STATA.

 SPSS – Student / Home User version

We have purchased a limited number of licenses for student and home use of this predictive analytics statistics software.  The cost for this license is $40.  To obtain a license please send an email to software@umb.edu and mention that you are looking to purchase the ‘Student’ version.  If there are groups of students or a class needing access to SPSS, please  let us know as we can arrange to place an order for a block of 20 or 40 licenses – the cost per license will remain the same.

** Have a question regarding software – please email software@umb.edu or visit: http://www.umb.edu/it/getting_services/hardware_software_equipment

Update Notifications

Microsoft Security Patches [October 2014]

On October 14th, 2014, Microsoft released security patches for:

  • Windows 8, 8.1, 7, RT, RT8.1
  • Windows servers 2008, 2003 R2
  • Microsoft Office 2013, 2010
  • Internet Explorer

We strongly encourage you to apply these patches to your PC as soon as possible. For information about these updates please visit:
https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/security/ms14-oct.aspx

Click on the Windows logo located on the lower left hand corner of your computer screen, a menu will appear, click on “Control Panel”.

 

Once in the Control Panel, type the words “windows update” in the Search Control Panel field located in the upper right hand corner. As you do, the following screen will immediately appear.

ss1

 

Now, in the upper left handle corner, click the words “check for update”. This screen will appear

ss2

 

Click the “Check for updates” button to begin the checking. The following screen will appear after the checking is completed. All Important Updates must be installed. Click the “Install updates” button to begin the installation. You will need to reboot your computer to finish the installation later.

ss3

 

Alternatively, if you are using Internet Explorer you can click on Tools > and select Windows Update to install the latest security patches.

For questions please call the Service Desk @ 7-5220 or via email at ITServiceDesk@umb.edu.

Alert

IT SECURITY ALERT: CryptoWall Update

IMPORTANT UPDATE!

Since our previous message concerning CryptoWall ransomware, we have learned of some CryptoWall infections in the UMass system, and PC World reports over 600,000 PCs held hostage worldwide. This malware is out there and the threat is very serious. If your PC becomes infected, you could lose all data stored on your computer and all files on any hard drives or network file servers you connect to.

As far as we know, the main causes of infection are out of date software, including web browsers and plugins. Please make sure you check your system and make sure you are protected:

Make sure your browser, plugins, and other programs are up to date. Our Safe Computing / Scan My PC page has a scanning tool to make sure you are up to date along with more safe computing tips.

Most important, make sure your data is backed up. If your PC is infected, you could lose everything and will need to restore everything from backups. Don’t keep your backup drive connected to your computer, or the malware could attach your backups, too!

Alert

IT SECURITY ALERT: Protect your computer from CryptoWall “ransomware” virus

UPDATE: We have learned of some CryptoWall infections in the UMass system, and PC World reports over 600,000 PCs held hostage worldwide. This malware is out there and the threat is very serious.

This notification is to make you aware of a new version of the CryptoWall “ransomware” virus, which locks or encrypts files and may ask for payment in order to receive the decryption key. A newly released version has changed its delivery method and has been evading detection by most anti-virus programs.

Read on to learn how to protect yourself, and what to do if you think you are infected.

WHAT IF I BELIEVE MY COMPUTER IS INFECTED?​

  • ​If your computer is infected, your files will appear locked or scrambled and you will not be able to open them. You may also be prompted to submit payment for a decryption key.
  • We suggest that you do not pay the ransom.
  • Do not attempt to decrypt your computer or files though Web portals offering decryption services, these may be bogus.
  • Your anti-virus vendor may have tools that can clean your machine.
  • For work computers please call the IT Service Desk.
  • ​Please see Malvertising campaign delivers digitally signed CryptoWall Ransomware article in PCWorld to learn more.

WHAT CAN I DO TO PROTECT MY COMPUTER?

UMass Boston’s Information Technology team is updating University computer operating systems, applications and web browsers and blocking web traffic to known malware sites, but you are your computer’s best protection!

  • Before opening email attachments, confirm the sender’s legitimacy. Do not open any attachments that appear suspicious.
  • Update your computer’s operating system, anti-virus software and web browsers. Attacks often target vulnerabilities in web browsers; applying security patches can help reduce the risk of infection.
  • Be very careful when web browsing; as we approach the holiday buying season, these types of attacks become much more prevalent.​
  • Back up your hard drive(s) and unplug external hard drives when not in use. This type of malware may attempt to encrypt drives attached to a targeted computer.
  • On your home machines, you may wish to run the free Qualys Browser Check to determine the status of your plug-ins.
  • The latest version attacks using “Malvertising” whereby browsers are redirected by rogue ads to third-party pages that execute exploits in outdated browser plug-ins. ​Make sure your browser plug-ins are updated, and enable click-to-play for plug-in based content if the feature is available in your browser.
  • For more ways to protect yourself, visit the UMass Boston Safe Computing and Browser Check page​

If you have any questions, please contact the IT Service Desk:
Web: http://www.umb.edu/it/getting_help
Email: ITServiceDesk@umb.edu
Phone: 617-287-5220 (Internal: 7-5220)​

Event

Cyber Security Event at UMass Boston, October 22nd

Cyber Threat Smackdown!

Defending your Digital Devices

Cyber Security is in the news every day, with stories about the celebrity iCloud photo release, and credit card breaches from Target and Home Depot. October is Cyber Security Awareness Month, and the UMass Boston IT department is hosting an event to help keep your data and devices secure.

An iPad will be raffled off, plus other prizes!

Click Here to register for this free event

Wednesday October 22, 11:00 – 12:15
Campus Center 3rd floor ball room