With the Memorial Day weekend under way, many PSU users seem to be the targets of a recent series of phishing scams. Users claiming to be people you know at PSU may be approaching you with emergency solicitations for money or other resources. As always, be careful about responding to suspicious emails, even from people [...]
SFTP users, The host used to access files in your N: drive with SFTP is changing to winsftp.cecs.pdx.edu. (It used to be khensu.cecs.pdx.edu but we’re moving this service away from the file server.) For users who may be interested, SFTP is a mechanism that is available for remotely transferring files to and from your Windows [...]
Starting on May 15th, 2019, the behavior of Microsoft supplied Windows Updates will change on all CAT supported Windows systems. During “patch week”, updates will be released on Wednesday evening. From that time and throughout Thursday, desktop users may see this popup. To run the update at your convenience, visit the Software Center, go to [...]
For people who run websites on CAT infrastructure: We are updating the configurations that try to identify and prevent certain network attacks to our web servers. We have been running this new configuration for a few weeks in “passive” mode to fix any obvious false positives. We will now be switching these changes to active [...]
On December 27th, 2018, we switched CAT managed Linux workstations in our major computer labs to use an authentication/encryption system called Kerberos when accessing your files. This change is designed to significantly enhance the security of our file servers as they interact with these workstations. While most general users of these systems should not notice [...]
Primary departmental office printers are now available through Web Print. Web Print is a web-based interface for submitting files for printing. It can be a useful service for people with Tier 3 computers who are having trouble getting printing setup to MCECS printers (or don’t want to bother). You can learn more about how to [...]
Watch out for phishing spam The start of Fall term is phishing season. Avoid falling for attackers who want your login details and other personal data PSU OIT's information regarding phishing attacks https://portlandstate.atlassian.net/servicedesk/customer/portal/2/article/44755919 Computer Labs Windows labs are now running Windows 10 version 1709. The Classic Shell start menu has been deprecated. Windows lab software [...]
Externally accessible systems at PSU are those that present services to the open Internet that can be reached without the use of a VPN. There have been some recent lapses in security among externally accessible Tier 3 (self-managed) systems as well as a push by OIT to better secure PSU's network border. This has put [...]
In the past year, we have found many instances of MCECS faculty/staff having problems trying to install the PSU licensed version of the Microsoft Office suite on their new Tier 3 (self managed) computers. The problem seems to stem from the vendor's default Windows load (OEM load) on the computer having a trial or starter [...]
We have a web-based Remote Desktop Client available for users who need to remotely access Windows systems in MCECS. This method does not require the use of a VPN and may benefit people who are having problems getting their VPN connection to work. The web client is not as robust as a native RDP app, [...]