We in UIS are hoping you are enjoying the rather warm fall semester! We’ve got some great tips and updates to share in this newsletter and we’re also trying to provide more visible communications on when changes are coming. Your UIS team is just a phone, email, or Zoom connection away!
Thank you and go Boxers!
Brandon Gatke
CIO / CISO
VPN to Use Multifactor Authentication Starting Nov. 1
Starting Nov. 1, the Pacific University VPN system will use Multifactor Authentication with Duo as part of the VPN login process. Logging in will require you to either accept a Duo push on the Duo Mobile app or to generate a Duo passcode to append to your VPN credentials. (Remember to never accept a Duo push that you haven’t just requested.) Yubikeys (USB authentication devices) will not work for VPN authentication but alternate methods will be available. Users with VPN access will receive emails shortly before this change is made with links to updated instructions in our Service Portal.
Track What UIS is Changing
UIS manages a large number of changes to the many technology systems under our care, and some of those changes can involve brief planned outages (typically during our outage windows) or changes to functionality. In addition to targeted emails to user groups likely to be affected, we now have a dashboard of recent and upcoming changes available to all faculty, staff and students. Just search for “upcoming changes” while logged in to our Services Portal.
Altiris Removed From Managed PCs
UIS has fully transitioned to SCCM for management of university-owned PCs and will be removing the old Altiris client. Users of these machines will notice few changes: removal of the yellow-circle “Symantec Management Agent” icon from the tray; and removal of the old Altiris self-service portal. Self-service software installs can now be accessed by searching for “Software Center” on any managed PC.
New Operating Systems Are Coming
Apple’s new operating system, macOS Ventura, will release this month. University-owned computers will not initially have access to upgrade to this new operating system while we work to ensure compatibility with our core supported systems. We anticipate Ventura will be made available in the next few months. We are also testing Windows 11 with an eye towards deploying it on new university-issued Windows computers in summer of 2023. Both operating systems are fully supported on student laptops.
Boxer Mail Tip: Reviewing Archived Emails
Thanks to Helpdesk student worker Stacey S. for this tip. Google uses tags to decide what folder or folders an email shows up in. New emails, by default, get the “Inbox” tag and therefore show up when you view your Boxer Mail inbox. There are several ways an email can lose that Inbox tag, both intentionally and unintentionally: clicking the Archive button above the email; clicking on the “x” next to the Inbox tag; a filter that automatically archives a message; or swiping left or right in the Gmail mobile app. Once removed, the email can still be found in a search, but will not show up in any of your folders.
One way to see and remove all of your archived messages is to enter the following in your email search bar in the Boxer Mail web interface:
has:nouserlabels -in:Sent -in:Chat -in:Draft -in:Inbox