CCIT News and Notices

AirPlay Vulnerability

A new vulnerability in Apple’s AirPlay has been uncovered by Oligo Security Research that could potentially allow bad actors to compromise devices such as your Mac laptop, AirPlay speakers and receivers, or even the CarPlay system in your automobile.

Because of this vulnerability, users could experience a denial of service, loss of sensitive information, or possibly distractions while driving in the form of unwanted sounds or images being displayed on your automobile console.

The Apple Logo with a bug icon representing a computer virus next to an iPhone with the AirPlay icon displayed.

To help protect yourself against this vulnerability:

  • Update any device that supports AirPlay to the latest version of the software available.
  • Verify on your AirPlay device that the setting “Allow AirPlay for” is set to just “Current User.”
  • Disable the AirPlay receiver on any device where it is not needed.

For additional information, please see the full article at:
https://www.oligo.security/blog/airborne

QR Code Scam

Clemson users are seeing an influx of QR Scam emails. In these emails, like the one below targeting employees referencing a Compensation Guide, the recipient is given a QR code to scan with their phone.

But if a user follows the link from the QR code, they are presented with a fake login page which will steal the user’s login and password account information. The cybercriminals are hoping that you will be less protected and have limited information by moving you to your phone.

Some of these fake QR code emails claim to be from Microsoft, while others are targeting students with fake job opportunities.

An email with the Subject Line 'Reminder: 2025 Employee Compensation Plan is awaiting your signature' and containing a QR code stating that the user should complete a task.

You should always check the sender’s email address before following any link or QR code. Any official email from Clemson will have a clemson.edu address.

If you receive a suspicious email with a QR Code, use the Report Phishing button in Outlook to have the Clemson Security Operations Center review and investigate the email for you.

CCIT This Week: Stay tech safe during Spring Break, GIS fundamentals workshop Intermediate Spatial Analysis

March 10th – March16th

Welcome to CCIT This Week, where we give you a rundown of news, tips, upcoming maintenance and more. This page will be updated throughout the week. Follow us on Instagram, Facebook and X (formerly Twitter) for information and timely updates. Check outage and maintenance information on the CCIT Status Page.


News

The CCIT Support Center offers real-world experiences and skills for students! Clemson University students, faculty and staff rely on technology every day, and the Clemson Computing and Information Technology (CCIT) Support Center is often their first stop when issues arise. Students working in the Support Center develop professional skills while still studying full-time, which differentiates them from others when they prepare for the job market after graduation.

The Clemson VPN login process has been changed. On Friday, February 14, CCIT upgraded the virtual private network (VPN), changing the login process. When connecting to the VPN, rather than seeing a pop-up that requires you to enter your Clemson credentials plus the word “push,” you will now be directed to the standard Clemson login page and Duo prompt.


Events

The next Research Computing and Data live workshop is a two-part series on advanced deep learning in Pytorch! Join the RCD team on March 25 and 27 at 2 p.m. for these live sessions on advanced PyTorch development topics including model fine-tuning, using multiple GPUs during training, experiment tracking, and more. Registration is required; open to all Palmetto users. Participants must have basic familiarity with Python programming and a good grasp of Pytorch fundamentals.

The popular GIS Fundamentals Workshop Series continues! These workshops have been streamlined to cover six critical topics that guarantee coverage of all the GIS fundamentals. The next workshop topic will be “Intermediate Spatial Analysis” on Friday, March 14. These hybrid workshops are free and open to all Clemson students, faculty, and staff; no previous experience is necessary! Sessions will be delivered both online and in person every other Friday from 1:30 to 4:30 p.m. Note: Attendance at the first two workshops is mandatory to participate in the remaining sessions.

Get ready to get creative at Makerday XVIII! Makerday is Clemson’s largest show-and-tell event, promoting creativity, innovation, and design. It allows students, clubs and faculty to show off the things they’ve made this semester, as well as interact with stations to make buttons, stickers, t-shirts and more. Drop-in to Makerday on Tuesday, April 15 between 3 to 6 p.m. in the Watt Family Innovation Center atrium.


March Tech Tip

Follow these tech tips to help you stay safe during Spring Break! Spring Break is right around the corner and itineraries may be well underway. Now more than ever, staying safe on trips extends far beyond applying enough sunscreen, staying hydrated and moving in groups. In fact, technology can play a key role in keeping you safe, especially when so many of our plans involve our smartphones and different applications.

Quick Tech Tips to Keep You Safe on Spring Break

Spring Break is right around the corner and itineraries may be well underway. Now more than ever, staying safe on trips extends far beyond applying enough sunscreen, staying hydrated and moving in groups. In fact, technology can play a key role in keeping you safe, especially when so many of our plans involve our smartphones and different applications. 

Phone and laptop display check marks for safety

Here are some quick reminders to ensure you can stay tech safe this Spring Break too: 

  1. Use Clemson VPN when connecting to “unsecured” wifi networks. This will keep others from potentially accessing what you are browsing, especially with transactions. 
  2. Seek out eduroam networks if traveling near another campus community. These are more secure and you will automatically connect to them if you use those devices on Clemson’s eduroam. There are over 33,000 eduroam connections worldwide! 
  3. Do not plug your cellphone charger directly into a USB port at the airport or on transportation. Always use a charger block and an outlet.
  4. Passwords protect all of your devices. Do not use passwords that are easily breakable either. 1234 is a good way to have your information 123-gone. While sharing is caring in most scenarios, keep those passwords to yourself.  
  5. Disable Bluetooth when not in use. It may be tempting to keep it on all the time, but this is one way to prevent unwanted device pairings/connections. 
  6. Do not fall for phishing scams or too-good-to-be-true deals for rentals of any kind. Ensure you are using a secure, legitimate service website. Cybercriminals know that Spring Break happens in March, too. 
  7. Avoid sharing your exact location on social media. Be mindful that people may be able to locate you and while it may be tempting to share exactly where you are and the cool stuff you are doing on your trip, consider how it impacts your safety and the safety of others around you. 

We wish all of our Tigers a happy, healthy, and safe Spring Break. Take care of yourselves and know that we are here to support you if needed. To see the adjusted Spring Break CCIT Support Center hours, visit this page.

Changes To The CUVPN Login Process

On Friday, February 14, 2025, CCIT will upgrade the virtual private network (VPN) that will change the login process. Once this change has been implemented, your login process will change in the following way: 

When connecting to CUVPN, rather than seeing a pop-up that requires you to enter your Clemson credentials plus the word “push,” you will be directed to the standard Clemson login page and Duo prompt.

Old CUVPN Login

Pop up that appears in old login to CU VPN via Cisco

New CUVPN Login

Normal orange and gray Clemson login where you enter the username and password

If you have issues logging in after this change is implemented, CCIT recommends that you clear your cache and cookies. For more information on how to clear your cache and cookies, the CCIT Knowledge Base offers helpful instructions. If you have any further questions or concerns, reach out to the CCIT Support Center.

Stay Vigilant Against Internship And Job Scams

Since it is internship and job season, the Office of Information Security encourages Clemson University students to practice vigilance as they navigate emails and job opportunities. Internship and job scam emails are common and it is important to take a few steps to verify key information before responding or clicking links. 

Here are some quick tips to stay safe: 

  1. Check the sender’s email address. Is it from a legitimate organization or does it look suspicious? 
  2. Never click on links in emails that look suspicious. 
  3. Do not provide your Clemson or personal passwords or account information to anyone.  
  4. Watch for urgency cues. While job offers do need prompt responses, scam emails will often ask for immediate replies to get you to act fast.
  5. Even if an email looks like it is coming from someone at Clemson, always verify the person sending the offer by using the my.Clemson Directory. Clemson faculty will not typically reach out to students with internships or job offers in this manner. 
  6. Report emails that might be scams (phishing) by forwarding them to phishing@clemson.edu or use the Report Phishing button in Outlook.
An email with red circles around scam email addresses and calls to urgency reminds students to stay alert against job and internship scams, especially if they look like they are coming from someone who is pretending to work here.

For more information about phishing and current scams, visit the Office of Information Security’s website

“Do I Keep My Email?” and other tech questions from graduating Tigers

Graduation is an exciting time for every Tiger, but it unfortunately does mean a change to some of the software and services you’ve grown accustomed to during your time at Clemson. Luckily, with a few minutes of review, you can prepare your technology and data for graduation.

Clemson graduates smiling at each other during the graduation ceremony in Littlejohn Coliseum.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do I keep my Clemson Google account?

Graduates will have access to their Clemson Google account for one year following graduation. Please note that forwarding of your @clemson.edu email address will cease soon after your username is deactivated. We suggest updating your contacts or accounts to use a different email address so you don’t lose anything when your account is closed.

We recommend you move your Google Drive files to another cloud storage service or personal Google Drive account in preparation for the closure of your Clemson Google account after one year. You can use Google Takeout (takeout.google.com) to export your Google account data if you wish to store it elsewhere, or you can use the transfer service (takeout.google.com/transfer) if you plan to move it to another Google account.

What about the files in my other cloud storage accounts?

  • Your access to Box and OneDrive will end one year after graduation. We recommend that you download your files from those accounts as soon as possible, so you don’t forget about them. 
  • Any files you create and manage in CUapps (Citrix) are stored on your U: drive (also called Home Directory). You will have access to your U: drive for one year after graduation, so be sure to download those files before you lose them. The CCIT Knowledge Base contains instructions to access your U: drive for macOS and Windows.
  • If you use the Palmetto Cluster or any of Clemson’s research computing storage, we recommend you download your data from there as well. For research computing assistance, contact Research Computing and Data.

What software do I keep?

Once you graduate, you will no longer qualify to reinstall Clemson’s site-licensed software.  Alumni are eligible for a discounted Microsoft Office 365 Personal license, available at Microsoft’s Alumni Discount page. Access to the Adobe Creative Cloud will be disabled upon graduation as well. Make sure to save copies of your Adobe files, projects and assets, or use these instructions from Adobe on how to transfer your assets to a new Adobe profile. 

Can I download my submitted Canvas assignments?

Yes. Visit our CCIT Knowledge Base for step-by-step instructions.

Is there anything else I should do?

  • Save a copy of your unofficial transcript after final grades are submitted. After your Username is deactivated, you will no longer be able to access your unofficial transcript—we suggest you save a copy sooner rather than later. After your Username is deactivated, you will have to request an official copy for a fee, as directed by the Registrar’s transcripts page.
  • Save a copy of your tax records. After your Username is deactivated, you will no longer be able to access iRoar for your billing information. If your account is deactivated and you need to get these records, contact CCIT at (864) 656-3494.

If you have any questions or need assistance, please contact CCIT Support by calling/texting (864) 656-3494, emailing ITHELP@clemson.edu or starting a chat by clicking the orange chat box on this page.

Disregard Nov. 11 email(s) from Microsoft 365

CCIT is aware that some Clemson University employees received an email(s) from Microsoft 365 last night (Nov. 11) between 8 p.m. and 10 p.m. EST that welcomed them to the “aad_veeam_backupgroup.” This email resulted from an error as CCIT works to implement a new backup tool for Clemson’s Office 365 environment. Please disregard any emails received about this; no further action is necessary.
Thank you,
CCIT

Planned outages of personal and departmental storage set for Saturday, Nov. 30

On Saturday, November 30, CCIT will make necessary upgrades to personal and departmental storage spaces and these services will be unavailable for most of the day. CCIT will update hardware disks for departmental group storage, commonly called the H:drive. CCIT will also update software for personal home directory spaces, widely called the U:drive.

CCIT scheduled these updates for the weekend of Thanksgiving to minimize disruption.

The schedule for impacted services for Saturday, November 30 includes:

  • U:drive – Personal home directory spaces will be unavailable from 8 to 9 a.m.
  • H:drive – Departmental group storage will be unavailable from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

We encourage users to locally save any necessary files from the H: or U: drives that may be needed during this planned outage. Clemson users should not notice any changes other than the scheduled downtime.

Contact your local area IT support or contact the CCIT Support Center for support.

Shred Your Documents At A Free Campus Event

Shred360 Shred Bowl event title in white text against the Tiger holding white paper to be shredded in the background

On Monday, November 18, 2024 the twelfth annual Shred Bowl 360 event returns to Clemson University’s campus. This document shred day is a free opportunity for Clemson staff, faculty, students and community members to bring their documents to be destroyed in a safe environment. Document shredding is another way to protect important personal information and is a strongly encouraged best practice.  

This year’s event will occur in the Littlejohn parking lot between 10 a.m. and 12 p.m. (219 Perimeter Rd, Clemson, SC 29634). Each vehicle is limited to three (3) boxes (copy paper box or smaller) or three (3) bags (kitchen trash bag or smaller). Removing binder clips, binders, paper clips, rubber bands, or staples is unnecessary. The image below shows where the shred truck will be located: 

For more information about this year’s Shred Bowl 360 event, please visit this link