Kansas State University

search

IT News

Author: Division of Information

K-State’s new eID password standards

Posted on by Division of Information

Currently, K-Staters are required to change their eID password every 180 days. On Wednesday, April 8, K-State’s eID password standards are changing. With these updated standards, most K-Staters will need to change their passwords only one more time.

What do I need to do?

Right now, nothing. Before the change, you received an email every 180 days, reminding you to change your password. After April 8, the next time you get the reminder email, change your password using the new password standards. After that password change, you will not need to change your password again unless your password becomes compromised. Keep the following in mind:

  • If you change your password before April 8, you will receive a 180-day reminder email and will be required to change your password again. After that password change, you will not need to change your password again unless your password becomes compromised.
  • If you are required to change your password more often because of the job you perform, you will still need to follow those job-specific password guidelines.

Continue reading “K-State’s new eID password standards” →

IT News recap for the week of March 23

Posted on by Division of Information

During this time of learning, teaching, and working from home, Information Technology Services will continue to provide new or updated information on the technology that is available at K-State to help you during this unusual semester. We realize a lot of information is coming at you all at once, so we have created a summary of the information that was released during the week in case you missed anything. Continue reading “IT News recap for the week of March 23” →

Increasing numbers of fraudulent schemes warns FBI and DOJ

Posted on by Division of Information

The Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) are warning consumers about increasing numbers of fraudulent schemes spoofing the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the World Health Organization (WHO) with information related to COVID-19. In an alert, the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center warns consumers about the various phishing scams, which might be in the form of an email, text or phone call or robocall and associated with the stimulus check (requesting you give your credentials or bank information), information about someone testing positive at K-State, health insurance, selling fake products, etc.

Cybercriminals often take advantage of uncertain times to trick users into responding to an email, text or phone call and divulging sensitive information such as your eID/password, downloading an executable file, downloading an attachment, clicking on a link, sending you to a malicious URL, etc. Be vigilant about communications related to COVID-19.

Continue reading “Increasing numbers of fraudulent schemes warns FBI and DOJ” →

Darci Pottroff named Director of Application Services

Posted on by Division of Information

Darci Pottroff was named Director of Application Services for Information Technology Services on March 23. Throughout her 29 years at K-State, Pottroff has held various roles, some of which include serving on the team that migrated the ERP systems to cloud services. She is an expert on K-State’s human resource management system, HRIS.

Pottroff has 15 years of management experience with K-State, providing a wealth of knowledge about the Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems that she will now oversee. In her most recent role as IT Administrator/ Coordinator for the Information Systems Office, Pottroff demonstrated her ability to work with leaders across the university and the state. Continue reading “Darci Pottroff named Director of Application Services” →

Adobe Creative Cloud available to students, faculty and staff

Posted on by Division of Information

Adobe is making temporary at-home access to the Creative Cloud Suite available until May 31, 2020. View the Knowledge Base article provided by Adobe and adapted for K-State here.

For the majority of students, faculty, and staff, to access the Adobe Creative Cloud Suite from your computer or laptop, sign in here https://creativecloud.adobe.com with your K-State.edu email address.

For those individuals who have an existing named license, they continue to sign in as they have in the past using their @ksu.edu Adobe ID. This process will allow named license users to access their cloud files and saved settings.

Also, through May 31, 2020, Adobe is making web-based PDF tools available for free from Adobe.com.

For additional information about software available to K-Staters and provisions extended due to COVID-19, visit the ITS Software page.

Need help? For self-help, view the IT Knowledge Base articles. Need more help, contact the IT Help Desk 785-532-7722 or your local IT support staff.

Managing internet expectations as we teach, learn and work remotely

Posted on by Division of Information

Managing internet expectations as we teach, learn and work remotely  

On Monday, March 23, K-State students, faculty, and staff will collectively be online – teaching, learning, working. Are you ready? Are we ready? Know that access to applications may be slower, resulting from factors you may or may not be able to control. Response times for assistance may be slower due to demand. An application may be unavailable when you need it. The K-State IT staff have tried to anticipate what students, faculty, and staff will need for the next eight weeks and beyond, but we might have overlooked some things. Bear with us. We will continuously improve. We crowdsourced the following thoughts in hopes of mitigating some unforeseen issues and managing expectations.

Continue reading “Managing internet expectations as we teach, learn and work remotely” →

Information Technology Services testing working remotely

Posted on by Division of Information

Over the past several weeks, K-State has been preparing for how we might respond to the spread of the Coronavirus.  Circumstances might require staff to work remotely.

To prepare for this possibility, Information Technology Services (ITS) is testing a remote work scenario this week. The goal is to ensure that our technology resources and documentation are ready and available if students, faculty, and staff need to work and access K-State resources remotely.

One of the most frequent questions to ITS, “Is there available bandwidth to conduct classes online?” The answer is yes, however be aware numerous devices using your connection to an internet service provider all compete for the same bandwidth, which may slow your connectivity to K-State resources. Also, ITS has verified that Canvas, Zoom, Mediasite, Office 365 and other key resources will scale to meet the demand.

ITS will share best practices and tools for working in remote locations on the university’s COVID-19 update page.

 

March 9: Windows Software Update Service (WSUS) will push Windows 10 update

Posted on by Division of Information

Windows updateOn Mon., March 9, Windows Software Update Service (WSUS) will push the Windows 10 November 2019 Update (Build 1909) to all applicable University-owned Windows 10 computers connected to the central WSUS server. Once the update files are downloaded, K-Staters will need to restart their computer to complete the installation. You have the option to restart immediately or postpone the restart to a later time. Once the computer is restarted, the update will begin installing and the computer will be unusable during the install. It is estimated the install will take up to 2 hours to complete.

See the K-State’s Windows Software Update Service (WSUS) knowledge base article for instructions on how to set up the service.

If you have any question, contact the IT Help Desk (helpdesk@ksu.edu or 532-7722).

IT Help Desk returns to Hale

Posted on by Division of Information

On March 16, the IT Help Desk will return to the second floor of Hale Library. The hours of operation will be:

  • Monday-Thursday, 7:30 a.m.-10 p.m.
  • Friday, 7:30 a.m.-8 p.m.
  • Saturday, 1- 6 p.m.
  • Sunday, 1-10 p.m.

The second floor of Hale will house 99 computers (87 Windows machines and 12 Macs) and 5 printers. The machines for processing scantron forms also will move to Hale.

A satellite IT Help Desk will be located on the first floor of the K-State Student Union with hours from 10 a.m.-2 p.m., Monday-Friday.

Some Information Technology Services will stay in the Union, including Equipment Checkout, the university telephone operators, Client Services, and Network Operations, until the remaining floors of Hale reopen.

Many thanks to the K-State Student Union staff for providing great space for the IT Help Desk over the last 20 months.

IT Update

Posted on by Division of Information

The Ides of March are upon us.

Big news this month is the planned opening of the second floor of Hale with 99 computers, five printers, a book scanner, lots of study space and the combined Library and IT Help Desks. Updates are organized by the strategic goals within the IT Strategic Plan.

The Deputy CIOs are reengineering their respective units. The overarching organizational chart is available here.

Continue reading “IT Update” →