Information Technology Services

CFAES IT Services Review – Update

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In late August, we shared that the college was undergoing a CFAES IT Services Review. Below is an update on the planning process including decisions that have been made.

Since August, we developed and vetted several options for how we move ahead in addressing the recommendations. While some of you have not heard from us since the last update, the decision-making process included meeting several times with a small group of chairs/unit directors for feedback on the options and feedback from other units who partner with the Office of Chief Information Officer (OCIO) in various ways for Managed IT Services. Matt DeVore has also been an important partner in the process. After evaluating the options and carefully considering recommendations and feedback, the Dean has decided to move ahead with significant change in how CFAES approaches IT services. Managing IT and digital strategy has become increasingly complex and expensive. Centralizing Managed IT Services with OCIO will allow us to focus college IT staff on our unique IT needs. Our goal is to ensure a robust IT strategy and approach to management.

Below is a summary of plans for next steps with IT services:

  1. We have completed initial planning and will increase our partnership with OCIO to engage them more fully in strategic planning and management of our IT infrastructure and operations. We will kick off the expanded partnership as of Nov. 1 and work through a 60- to 90-day planning period. Expect an 18 to 24 month transition period, completed by 2020.
  2. This is not a reduction in CFAES IT Services employees, but it will involve change. That change  impacts our IT staff and those they currently serve. This impact has been an important concern in our planning.  There are rumors about layoffs that are not part of the plan. We anticipate individual IT responsibilities and expectations will change, and will work with each staff member and their supervisor on what that change will look like.
  3. Details are to be determined. The first phase is planning details of what the partnership will look like, HR changes, and a change management plan.
  4. Matt DeVore has agreed to lead transition, working closely with both OCIO and CFAES teams in a change management role.

We will update all CFAES faculty and staff as decisions are made and plans unfold.

Changes to Email Forwarding Policy

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Beginning on Friday, Sept. 29, Ohio State employees will no longer be able to forward to their osu.edu mailbox to outside email services – services like Yahoo, Google, Hotmail, etc.

Graduate students who are also employees, such as those with graduate assistantships, may have both a BuckeyeMail account (@buckeyemail.osu.edu) and a University Email account (@osu.edu) as an employee/faculty member. Those who have been forwarding their UES accounts to BuckeyeMail will now have two mailboxes to check to ensure they receive all of their messages. On https://email.osu.edu, users can check BuckeyeMail by clicking the BuckeyeMail button under the “For Students” header and to check university email, log in by clicking the University Email Service button under the “For Faculty and Staff” header.

OCIO will communicate this change throughout September, and has already communicated directly with individuals who are forwarding email. Click here for more information about the change.

Zoom Office Hours Available This Week

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It has been three months since the CFAES IT Services unit introduced Zoom, and the response has been outstanding.  Over 2,000 employees have signed up for a Zoom account and are using it every day!  Some of you may have questions about how to use Zoom or may not be aware of all the features.  Now is your chance to get those questions answered.

Join Ken Kulka for his “Zoom Office Hours” session Thursday, Aug. 31 at 1:30 p.m.  Ken will be on hand to answer your questions about using Zoom and will cover new Zoom features each week.

Click here to join: https://osu-cfaes.zoom.us/j/6142922012

If you have not signed up for your Zoom Pro account, go to the CFAES Zoom portal.

CFAES IT Services – New Help Desk Phone Number

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To simplify service for our CFAES customers statewide, the Information Technology Services group has adopted a new phone number for the CFAES IT Service Desk. You may now dial 614-514-IT4U (4848) to reach our service desk. In addition we have added 844-614-IT4U (4848) as a toll free option for County Offices and Outlying Research Stations. For Resident Instruction, Classroom Support, and Videoconferencing needs select Option 1. For Columbus Campus support select Option 2. For Wooster Campus support and Outlying Research Stations select Option 3. For County Office support select Option 4.

In addition, you can also contact the CFAES IT Service Desk via email or on the web at http://go.osu.edu/ITServiceDesk.

The older numbers 330-263-3772 (Wooster) and 614-292-9110 (Columbus), will remain in effect for the time being.

If you are experiencing any issues with the new call tree service or the web service desk portal, please contact Chris Dicus, CFAES ITS Customer Service Relations Manager, dicus.1@osu.edu, 330-263-3784. Any feedback is appreciated as we streamline our CFAES ITS customer service experience.

CFAES IT Services Review Update

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This update is on one of the important planning efforts we have underway in the college, the CFAES IT Services Review and Planning initiative.

As a reminder, we collaborated with Ohio State’s Office of the Chief Information Officer (OCIO) and an external company on an IT Services Review and Planning initiative that will help the college make future IT budget and staffing decisions in the context of the college’s strategic objectives in teaching, research and extension.

CFAES IT Services Review: Findings and Recommendations

Summary of Critical Recommendations:

  • Invest in security to meet the university information security standards and reduce risk
  • Resolve network and connectivity issues, particularly for our distributed county locations
  • Refresh computers that are out-of-warranty and fund an ongoing computer refresh program with standardized configurations
  • Continue to address important help desk/support needs identified in the review

Summary of Longer Term Priorities:

  • Increase wireless, mobile support, and seamless experience across all CFAES locations (Mobile First)
  • Focus on video conferencing, distance education, and web sites to support innovation in teaching and collaboration
  • Increase specialized support for big data and research to advance key research priorities

Now that the review is complete, Matt DeVore and others from our college leadership team are working together to develop several options for how we move ahead in addressing the recommendations. Over the next month, we will evaluate these options and will have more to share with you about next steps. Click here to view the full report.

IT Services Review and Planning Initiative

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CFAES and Ohio State’s Office of the Chief Information Officer (OCIO) are collaborating on an IT Services Review and Planning initiative that will help the college make future IT budget and staffing decisions in the context of the college’s strategic objectives in teaching, research and extension.  The result of this collaborative effort will help us to:

  • Define the types of IT services needed to propel the college toward its strategic goals in teaching, research and extension
  • Prioritize critical infrastructure and IT security/compliance risks that need to be addressed
  • Explore options to optimize the delivery of IT services
  • Develop a three- to five-year IT roadmap and investment plan

OCIO will work closely with Graham Cochran, Matt DeVore, other CFAES leaders, IT staff, and key stakeholders to understand the college’s current IT services and infrastructure.  Together we will explore what is working well and where there might be opportunities for improvement.  We will also discuss the college’s vision and goals with respect to teaching, research and extension and identify strategies the college could pursue that would strengthen its IT capabilities in specific areas in to achieve those goals. We also plan to engage an outside company to provide an external perspective that is important for reviews like this.

The IT Services Review and Planning initiative will kick off in March 2017.  The review team will gather specific information about the current IT environment and interview key stakeholders about current and future IT needs in research, teaching and extension. The team will also review feedback from individual faculty and staff submitted via an online “suggestion box.”  The information gathering process will take approximately four to six weeks to complete and the team’s progress will be tracked on a public web site.

The timing for this review aligns well with other CFAES reviews that are helping to support decisions about direction, resources that chairs, unit leaders and the new dean will use, and overall strategic planning for the college.  The timing also aligns well with the University IT Strategy efforts underway across Ohio State.  IT leaders from the largest colleges and VP units including CFAES have identified seven investment areas that all IT leaders feel are important to co-invest in – areas such as Mobile First, Empowering Teaching Innovation, Advancing Research, and Developing Talent.  The roadmap and investment plan developed as a result of the CFAES IT Services Review will take into account these larger IT initiatives.  Click here for more information on the University IT Strategy.

Questions about the review can be directed to Matt DeVore (devore.38@osu.edu) or Graham Cochran (cochran.99@osu.edu).

IT Services Update – Desktop Patching

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The CFAES computer patch management program will use a different tool to install Microsoft security patches starting this month (February).  If the security patch requires a reboot, you will see the prompt (further down in this message).  It is important you take a few minutes to reboot your computer so the patch can complete the installation process.  Otherwise, your computer remains vulnerable.

As a reminder, CFAES IT releases Microsoft security patches either the first week of every month or the 5th week of the month (depending on the month).

Here’s our monthly patching timeline:

  • Second Tuesday of every month: Microsoft releases its new security patches
  • Second Tuesday through the third week of every month: IT tests the patches on 10 to 15 IT testing devices
  • Fourth week of every month: IT as a whole receives the patches for further testing
  • Either the first week of every month or the 5th week of the month (depending on the month): CFAES (the entire college) receives the patches

The above schedule is subject to acceleration should a zero-day, ultra-critical vulnerability surface requiring the deployment of a security patch (rarely happens).

Following the installation of the patch, if the security update requires a reboot and you have not yet done so within 3 days (your machine is still vulnerable), you’ll see a prompt asking you to save your work and reboot your computer.  You will have the option to delay for one additional day then the reboot will happen automatically.

As a reference, Ohio State’s Information Security Control Requirements (section IT10.4.1) requires all colleges to employ a desktop patch management program.

If you have any questions, please contact Rob Clifford at 614-292-9802 or Clifford.158@osu.edu.

CFAES IT Service Desk Changes

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To better service our CFAES customers statewide, the Information Technology Services group has adopted a new system for phone support at the ITS Service Desk. You may still use the same phone numbers to request IT service: 330-263-3772 for Wooster and 614-292-9110 for Columbus, for the IT Service Desk. We also have added 844-614-4848 for County Offices and Outlying Research Stations.

In the near future, we will be moving to a “single number” calling scheme statewide.  With the adoption of the new phone system, callers will be provided a welcome greeting and options to expedite their IT issues. Additionally, the system hosts an on hold, “in queue” feature, allowing you to leave a callback number or provide a detailed voice mail message for our agents to create a Service Desk ticket on your behalf.

ITS is also moving to a unified ticketing option to manage your support requests.  The e-mail ticketing system (cfaes-ithelp@osu.edu) used by the Columbus campus customers will continue to work, and we are adopting a new web portal https://ithelpdesk.cfaes.ohio-state.edu/helpdesk/ for customers to enter their IT support requests. We are urging you to start using the web portal today, and you can easily log into the CFAES web service desk portal with your OSU login credentials to enter your information.

With both of these changes in service, our goal is to better assist our customers in a timely fashion, provide some metrics on our performance, and resolve IT related issues for our faculty and staff, statewide.

If you are experiencing any issues with the new call tree service or the web service desk portal, please contact Chris Dicus, CFAES ITS Customer Service Relations Manager, at dicus.1@osu.edu or 330-263-3784. Any feedback is appreciated as we streamline our CFAES ITS customer service experience.

Information Security Awareness Training

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Ohio State Policy (ISCR IT16.1.1, page 174) states the following: “organizations must ensure that all users of university networks or institutional data participate in university-approved information security awareness activities. Users must participate in a minimum of 1 hour of information security awareness annually.”

CFAES Information Security has been working with OSU Enterprise Security to compile training videos ranging from 2 to 5 minutes each in length.  The 1 hour of training includes 15 minutes needed to complete the comprehension quizzes.  Each video will provide content that is useful while at work and at home.  Training will be available starting this month via BuckeyeLearn with employees having until Sept. 30, 2017, to complete their assigned training and quizzes.

You will see an email from BuckeyeLearn-noreply@osu.edu indicating training has been assigned to you and is now available.  Please note you may need to turn off your pop-up blocker to view the course.

If you have any questions, please contact CFAES Information Security Officer Rob Clifford (clifford.158@osu.edu).

MacOS Sierra

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Mac users may be aware that Apple has released a new operating system version called macOS Sierra. CFAES IT Services has not yet tested this new operating system with university software and does not yet support it. Mac users in CFAES should not upgrade their OSU-owned computers to macOS Sierra at this time.

Matt DeVore
Chief Information Officer, CFAES
The Ohio State University
College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences Information Technology Services
203A Research Services, 1680 Madison Avenue, Wooster, OH 44691
330-202-3577 Office
devore.38@osu.edu

 

BuckeyePass is Now Live

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As a reminder, BuckeyePass went live on Sept. 12, 2016, and is now protecting our employee’s personal data found in Employee Self Service. Among other things, Employee Self Service allows you to update your personal data including the bank routing information for the direct deposit of your pay.  You’ll also need BuckeyePass to access and decide on your healthcare coverage during this fall’s open enrollment window (Nov. 1 – 15, 2016).  If you have not already enrolled in BuckeyePass, you will not be able to access your information in Employee Self Service until you complete the registration process.

Please refer to OSU’s BuckeyePass Knowledge Base for detailed instructions on how to register for BuckeyePass.  If you have any questions during the process of registering for BuckeyePass, please contact the CFAES IT Help Desk or 8HELP.

Rob Clifford – Information Security Officer for CFAES

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Rob Clifford is the Information Security Officer for CFAES.  His focus is on CFAES as a whole including all locations in Ohio. Rob is here to provide guidance on anything related to information security including answering questions you may have, finding a way to handle data securely, and to address any information security issues which might arise within our college.  If you believe you have an information security issue then the correct escalation process is to contact Rob first so he can assess the situation internally, organize the information, and engage teams outside of CFAES if necessary. Rob is here to help and looks forward to working with everyone to help reduce our information risk in CFAES.

Examples of information security issues Rob needs to hear about immediately:

  • Stolen or lost mobile computing device
  • Potential payment card information (PCI) exposure
  • Discovery of a virus or malware on a computer that might contain sensitive information
  • Realization that you have become a victim of a phishing attack (i.e. provided your username and password in response to a rogue email)
  • Discovery of improper disposal of information storage media which could lead to an exposure of sensitive information
  • Information storage media includes anything on which information can be stored such as paper, film, hard drives, flash drives, etc.

Here is Rob’s contact information:
Rob Clifford, CISSP
Information Security Officer
College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences | Information Technology Services
264 Kottman Hall, 2021 Coffey Rd, Columbus, OH 43210
614-292-9802 Office
clifford.158@osu.edu

Enroll in BuckeyePass Now: Video Tutorials and a Chance to Win a Free iPad

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As previously announced, beginning Monday, Sept. 12, 2016, multi-factor authentication will be added to the Human Resources Employee Self Service (ESS) system. BuckeyePass will provide a second layer of security by requiring not only a username and password but also a notification or numerical code that is sent to the user. You may already be using multi-factor authentication to log in to other accounts at your bank, email or social media sites.

For those desiring additional guidance in understanding the concepts of multi-factor authentication or enrolling devices in BuckeyePass, there are two video tutorials available on BuckeyeLearn that cover these issues in detail.

Video 1:  BuckeyePass Overview
This 9-minute video provides a general overview of multi-factor authentication and Duo/BuckeyePass. At the end of this video, you will be able to understand what BuckeyePass (Duo) Multi-Factor Authentication is, know why BuckeyePass is necessary to protect our institutional and personal data, and describe the four options available to use Duo.

Video 2:  Enrolling Devices in Duo/BuckeyePass
This 4-minute video provides a demonstration of enrolling devices in Duo. At the end of this video, you will be able to: enroll and manage your devices; and understand how to use the four options available in Duo.

If you are not familiar with using BuckeyeLearn, here are the steps to access the videos linked above:

  • Click the link for one of the videos above.
  • Note on the ohiostate.csod.com links: BuckeyeLearn is hosted by a third-party cloud service. https://buckeyelearn.osu.edu redirects users to https://ohiostate.csod.com once they log in. This is normal.
  • Log in using your OSU username and password.
  • Click the Request button.
  • Click the Launch button next to the training you just requested.
  • Click the triangular “play” button on the video.

Employees who are enrolled in BuckeyePass by Sept. 9, 2016 are automatically entered in a drawing for a free iPad.

Matt DeVore
Chief Information Officer, CFAES
The Ohio State University
College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences Information Technology Services
203A Research Services, 1680 Madison Avenue, Wooster, OH 44691
330-202-3577 Office
devore.38@osu.edu

Warning – Phishing Attack

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OSU Enterprise Security sent out an email earlier today alerting us to an ongoing and realistic PayPal phishing attack.  If you receive any suspicious emails, especially those asking for you to provide personal information (bank account numbers, SSNs, college credentials, etc.), and doubt the legitimacy of the email, please let me know before you do anything.

Phishing is defined as “The act of sending an email to a user falsely claiming to be an established legitimate enterprise in an attempt to scam the user into surrendering private information that will be used for identity theft.”

If you know it’s a phishing attempt, do not respond.  Simply forward the email to report-phish@osu.edu.

Let me know if you have any questions.  I’m here to help.

Thanks,

Rob
Rob Clifford, CISSP
Information Security Officer
College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences | Information Technology Services
264 Kottman Hall, 2021 Coffey Rd, Columbus, OH 43210
614-292-9802 Office
clifford.158@osu.edu cfaes.osu.edu

Apple Quicktime – Urgent Message

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Apple has announced they have discontinued support for Apple QuickTime on Microsoft Windows which means they will no longer provide updates to patch vulnerabilities.  There are at least two new vulnerabilities impacting QuickTime for which there will be no patches made available.  The Department of Homeland Security‘s U.S. Computer Emergency Readiness Team (US-CERT) and Apple are urging anyone who has QuickTime on a Microsoft Windows platform to remove the application immediately.

In most cases, QuickTime is not an important application and users won’t notice whether they have it or not. However, if there are mission-critical cases in your environment which require the use of QuickTime on Windows, please contact CFAES Information Security Officer Rob Clifford (clifford.158@osu.edu) so we can explore alternatives or compensating controls to protect these systems and the business needs they serve.

Our Information Technology Services team has established a strategy to automatically remove QuickTime from the Windows platform on the Columbus and Wooster Campuses but manual intervention may be required at the distributed Extension and Outlying Agricultural Research Station sites. The removal of QuickTime on Windows is scheduled to begin on Wednesday, May 4, 2016 after classes and finals are over. In the meantime, IT Services staff will also be reaching out to some of you directly to discuss any concerns and remove QuickTime manually or refer you to Rob Clifford.

QuickTime Installations on Windows Throughout CFAES

Extension – 693

Columbus – 400

Wooster, ATI – 232

Wooster, OARDC – 50

Reference:

https://www.us-cert.gov/ncas/alerts/TA16-105A

Matt DeVore 
Chief Information Officer, CFAES
The Ohio State University
College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences Information Technology Services
203A Research Services, 1680 Madison Avenue, Wooster, OH 44691
330-202-3577 Office
devore.38@osu.edu cfaes.osu.edu