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Scheduled maintenance will be performed on the E-mail system Saturday, January 3, between 8:00 a.m. and 12:00 p.m. During this maintenance window, access to e-mail may be unavailable on your primary server. Access to your e-mail via your alternate server should be available automatically when accessing through VCU Mail Anywhere, or via your alternate server using an IMAP connection or the Notes client.
Email Services is working to resolve a login issue to VCU Mail Anywhere at http://webdirect.vcu.edu. Users may try http://webdirect1.vcu.edu temporarily until this is resolved.
The Technology Services Help Desk will be operating under a limited schedule during the Winter Break. Service requests will only be responded to during the times and dates posted at http://go.vcu.edu/helpdesk. Normal operating hours will resume on January 5, 2009.
Follow Technology Services at:
http://www.ts.vcu.edu
http://www.twitter.com/vcutechservices
Network Services will be updating software on network equipment on both campuses Sunday, December 21, beginning at 5 a.m. The process is expected to be completed by 8 a.m. During the upgrade Internet, wireless, and phones will be down at some point for all buildings. Please contact the VCU Help Desk (828-2227, help@vcu.edu) with any questions.
Follow Technology Services at:
http://www.ts.vcu.edu
http://www.twitter.com/vcutechservices
The Microsoft out-of-band patches released earlier today have been downloaded and made available for LANDesk-managed systems. More information about these updates can be found at http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/bulletin/ms08-dec.mspx. Machines should patch for these vulnerabilities as they perform their regular security scans over the next day or so. Please direct any questions you have regarding LANDesk security updates or system management to LANDesk@vcu.edu.
On Sunday, December 21, 2008, from 10:00 a.m., to approximately 11:00 a.m., the Computer Center will be performing maintenance on the ImageNow server. ImageNow will not be available during this scheduled maintenance window.
COMPLETE - An out-of-band patch from Microsoft will be installed on the LANDesk web, core, and database servers this Friday, 12/19. Some LANDesk services may be down temporarily while this patch is being applied. All services are expected to be restored by 8AM.
IT staff have discovered two phishing scam emails which ask the recipient to reply with their password. Both take advantage of the recipient's fear and present a sense of urgency.
One email has a subject of "Vcu Upgrade Notification" and the other has a subject of "Dear Vcu Mail User". Both claim to be from "Vcu Help Desk", have a sender name of Help Desk Services" and a spoofed email address of "info@vcu.edu". The reply-to email address is "h.desks7@ymail.com".
The first email tells the recipient that maintenance is being done on VCU email accounts and the user's password is needed, otherwise the user's account may be suspended.
The second email tells the recipient that their mailbox has reached 18 MB in size and that if it reaches 25 MB, incoming email will be blocked. Not surprisingly, the user's password is needed to address the issue.
VCU's Technology Services staff and other VCU business units will never ask you to email your password. Per VCU's Password Standard:
Passwords must be kept secret and must not be shared.
and
Passwords must not be inserted into email messages or other forms of electronic communication...
A user responded to both emails with her password and other details that were requested. As a result, the user's email account was compromised and used to send out thousands of spam emails.
The resulting flood of spam from VCU's servers sometimes results in the recipients' ISPs blocking email from all VCU users. Though these phishers aren't generally interested in your personal information, with your password they could read your email and access other resources with your account, such as Blackboard, the portal, and Banner Self Service.
If you receive this email, or one like it, please delete it and do not respond to it. If you accidentally respond, change your password immediately and contact the VCU Help Desk to notify them that your password may have been compromised.
Email Services is working to bring Oak3 back on-line. Users can connect to their alternate server, Aspen3, via the Notes client or IMAP.
Email Services is working with people at the Network Operating Center to resolve authentication issues which may not allow users to access their email via VCU Mail Anywhere or IMAP connections. Please check back for further updates. Faculty and Staff may also use the Notes client software to access their email.
Web Services will be updating the web server that www.vcu.edu resides on this Monday, December 15. Maintenance will begin at 6 a.m. and will be completed no later than 8 a.m. During this maintenance period the www.vcu.edu website will not be available. Please contact the VCU Help Desk (828-2227, help@vcu.edu) with any questions.
Follow Technology Services at:
http://www.ts.vcu.edu
http://www.twitter.com/vcutechservices
On Sunday, December 14, 2008, from 10:00 a.m. to approximately 11:00 a.m., the UCC will be performing maintenance on the ImageNow server. ImageNow will not be available during this scheduled maintenance window.
The Administrative Systems group will be applying security patches to the Banner system beginning at 6 p.m. until 8 p.m. on Friday, December 12th. During this time Banner Self Service for faculty, staff and students will not be available. Banner Forms (INB) will also be unavailable during this time. Please contact the VCU Help Desk (828-2227, help@vcu.edu) with any questions.
Follow Technology Services at:
http://www.ts.vcu.edu
http://www.twitter.com/vcutechservices
Email Services is working to bring Oak2 back on-line. Users can connect to their alternate server, Aspen2, via the Notes client or IMAP.
COMPLETE - Server maintenance will occur on all LANDesk servers between 5 am and 8am on Friday, December 12. All services should be restored by 8am.
An upgrade to the servers used for Virtual Private Network access to many resources at VCU will take place on Thursday, December 11, beginning at 5 a.m. This work is expected to be completed by 8 a.m. During the upgrade all access via VPN to University resources will be interrupted. Please contact the VCU Help Desk (828-2227, help@vcu.edu) with any questions.
Follow Technology Services at:
http://www.ts.vcu.edu
http://www.twitter.com/vcutechservices
The Technology Services Help Desk has received reports that some on the MCV campus are unable to access their phonemail. Telecommunications staff are investigating at this time. Please contact the VCU Help Desk (828-2227, help@vcu.edu) with questions or to report any access problems.
Follow Technology Services at:
http://www.ts.vcu.edu
http://www.twitter.com/vcutechservices
VCU users are reporting that they have received phishing emails that ask the recipient reply to the email with their password.
The emails have a blank subject, claim to be from Virginia Commonwealth University, have a sender name of "webmaster@vcu.edu" and an email address of "webalert@mailwebmaster.com".
The email asks recipients to reply with their "Full Name", Email Id", and "Password". VCU's Technology Services staff and other VCU business units will never ask you to email your password. Per VCU's Password Standard:
Passwords must be kept secret and must not be shared.
and
Passwords must not be inserted into email messages or other forms of electronic communication...
This particular phishing email is rather poorly written, but we have seen others over the last few months that are more likely to fool users. A small, but significant number of users have responded to these phishing scams recently. When a VCU user responds with their password, the user's email account is usually compromised within minutes and is then used to send out thousands of spam emails in mere minutes. The resulting flood of spam from VCU's servers sometimes results in the recipients' ISPs blocking email from all VCU users. Though these phishers aren't generally interested in your personal information, with your password they could read your email and access other resources with your account, such as Blackboard, the portal, and Banner Self Service.
If you receive this email, or one like it, please delete it and do not respond to it. If you accidentally respond, change your password immediately and contact the VCU Help Desk to notify them that your password may have been compromised.
Technology Services Administrative Systems group will be performing upgrades to Banner this Sunday, December 7th, from 8 a.m until noon. During this time Banner Self Service for Faculty, Students and Staff will be unavailable as will Banner INB Forms. Please contact the VCU Help Desk (828-2227, help@vcu.edu) with any questions.
Follow Technology Services at:
http://www.ts.vcu.edu
http://www.twitter.com/vcutechservices
Email Services is currently working to resolve log file errors on serveral servers. These issues will be resolved as quickly as possible. Users may connect to their alternate servers.
Student email server VRAM4c is unavailable for a short time, users can connect to their alternate server, VRAMIMAP4.vcu.edu or automatically via VCU Mail Anywhere.
Student email server VRAM11 is unavailable for a short time, users can connect to their alternate server, VRAMIMAP11c.vcu.edu or automatically via VCU Mail Anywhere.
Email Services is working to bring Oak4 back on-line. Users can connect to their alternate server, Aspen4, via the Notes client or IMAP.
Email Services is working to bring Aspen4 back on-line. Users can connect to their alternate server, Oak4, via the Notes client or IMAP.
Email Services is working to bring Oak3 back on-line. Users can connect to their alternate server, Aspen3, via the Notes client or IMAP.
Email Services is working to bring Oak4 back on-line. Users can connect to their alternate server, Aspen4, via the Notes client or IMAP.
Sametime Instant Messaging is now available.
Scheduled maintenance will be performed on the E-mail system Saturday, December 6, between 7:30 a.m. and 12:00 p.m. During this maintenance window, access to e-mail may be unavailable on your primary server. Access to your e-mail via your alternate server should be available automatically when accessing through VCU Mail Anywhere, or via your alternate server using an IMAP connection or the Notes client.