Month: September 2024

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 Twitter @ClemsonIT for daily information and timely updates.

News

The CCIT Support Center is available to help. Even during campus closure, our Support Center is open and answering calls, texts and email. Walk-ins are not accepted if campus or Cooper Library is closed.

Learn the Support Center’s hours and get IT help

Upgraded accessibility website and policy guidelines announced. Clemson University remains committed to creating an accessible environment for all students, faculty and staff. As part of this commitment, experts across the University worked to build a new website to support accessibility at Clemson and a new policy to conform with federal updates to the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).

Learn more about online accessibility at Clemson

Important updates to Smartsheet for Faculty and Staff. Clemson University’s Procurement and Business Services informed Smartsheet on August 12, 2024, the University will no longer permit license purchases or renewals of Smartsheet due to Smartsheet’s inability to support accessibility as defined by the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).

Learn more about the changes to Smartsheet

Events

Join live a workshop with CCIT Research, Computing and Data! Join the RCD team to expand your knowledge of high-performance computing and research resources available to you! The next workshop on “Machine learning in Python with Clemson HPC” will be Tuesday, Oct. 1 at 1 p.m. Registration is required; open to all Palmetto users.

Learn more and register online

Learn how to deter cheating through effective course design with Clemson Online! Join this training on Wednesday, Oct. 2 at 1:30 p.m. to learn about why students cheat and how to design assignments and courses in Canvas that increase motivation for online students.

Check out the full events calendar from Clemson Online

The popular GIS Fundamentals Workshop Series continues! This Fall, a new curriculum for the GIS Fundamentals Workshops series has been introduced, which promises to empower attendees with the latest state-of-the-art technology accessible through any device. The workshops have been streamlined to cover five critical topics that guarantee coverage of all the GIS fundamentals. The next workshop topic will be “Field Data Collection with GIS” on Friday, Oct. 11. These hybrid workshops are free and open to all Clemson students, faculty, and staff; no previous experience is necessary! Sessions will be delivered online 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.

Learn more on the Clemson GIS website

September Tech Tip

Print anywhere on campus with PaperCut! PaperCut allows students to print to any of the printers located in public computer areas on campus. Each semester all students are given a quota of funds that can be used for printing and plotting services. More information, including installers and quick start guides for Windows, Mac, iOS and Android, are available by visiting clemson.edu/papercut. 

Upcoming Maintenance

Check out upcoming maintenance events on our CCIT Status Page.

As hurricane and storm season continues, it is important to remember that being prepared for severe weather also includes protecting your technology. For general preparedness information, ready.gov offers helpful instructions.

Familiarize yourself with Clemson University’s safety information

Clemson University’s Emergency Management offers useful information for natural disasters preparedness and emergencies on campus. Familiarize yourself with some of the modes of communication, including their Emergency Preparedness page. They update their social media with alerts as well (@ClemsonSafety is a good place to start). 

To receive CU Alerts on your phone, follow these instructions CU Alerts are important to stay up to date on any campus or area situations and responses year-round. 

Backup your data

It’s always a good idea to consistently back up your data. As a member of the Clemson community, you have free cloud storage through services like Box and OneDrive. Cloud storage should still be accessible in the event of severe weather at Clemson. Make sure to keep copies of frequently used documents in addition to regular backups.

What happens if Clemson applications are down?

The CCIT status page at status.ccit.clemson.edu is hosted off-site and should remain accessible, as should the CCIT website at ccit.clemson.edu. We will continue to post updates to university systems on the status page with information regarding possible service interruptions, as well as posting updates to the official CCIT Twitter account at @ClemsonIT. We encourage you to subscribe for notifications from the CCIT status page. 

Other general preparedness technology tips

• Extend the battery life of your devices by:
  • Turning off Wi Fi when not in use.
  • Turning off Bluetooth.
  • Dimming your screen.
  • Turning off push notifications from unnecessary apps.
• Keep wireless devices charged at all times and keep a back-up battery on hand. Consider car or solar chargers for your devices as well.
• Keep your devices dry. If you don’t have a waterproof case, Ziploc and similar bags will work well also.
• Don’t turn your tablet or phone on and off to preserve battery life. Your device will use more energy powering back up than in sleep/rest mode.
• After the storm and the power is back on, wait until there are no blackouts or surges before plugging your equipment back in. Be sure that critical equipment has an Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS) attached.

Be aware of cybercriminals

• After natural disasters, cybercriminals often try to take advantage of those impacted and trying to provide relief efforts. Whether through email or social media, protect yourself against scams and cyberattacks using a few simple tips:
  • Pay attention to the URL of the websites you visit. Malicious websites may look identical to a legitimate site, but the URL may use a variation in spelling or a different domain (for example: .com vs. .net).
  • Be suspicious of unsolicited phone calls, visits, or email messages.
  • Do not reveal personal or financial information in email, and do not respond to email solicitations for this information.
  • Do not follow unsolicited web links in email messages or open any attachments.

Since ordering and receiving packages has become commonplace for most people, cybercriminals are trying to take advantage of this practice. One of the ways they do this is by sending you a package with an item from a common online retailer, like Amazon, that you never ordered.

This is also known as a Brushing Scam. But the new twist on this scam is that inside your package you will find a QR Code with instructions on how to return the item or to find out more details about the order. Because this item was something that you didn’t actually order, they are hoping that you will scan the QR code that is included in the package.

These QR codes typically take you to a phony website that may load malware on your phone, which could compromise your device, or even steal your information.

For any package return or to get more information about an order, a safer solution would be to go to the vendor’s website yourself by typing in the actual address, rather than trusting a QR coded link. Once you are on the actual vendor’s website, you can check for details on the order or how to legitimately return an item if needed.

But if this was not an item you ordered yourself, then you are not obligated to return it. And you can simply keep it or throw it away.

Here are some tips to help avoid falling for this scam:

• Preview the URL for any QR Code before doing anything
  When you scan a QR code with your phone’s camera, it will display the website URL from the QR code. You should look carefully at the URL to see if it matches the official website. And beware of any tricky or misleading letter substitutions in the URL, which may make it similar to the real website address.
• Never download a QR Code Scanning App
  You should only use your phone’s camera to scan a QR code. If you are prompted to download any other tool to view the QR Code, this could be another way that scammers can infect your phone with malware.
• If you follow the URL from the QR Code, look for any suspicious signs on the website
  Verify that the URL is an HTTPS address and not just an HTTP address. Look for things like low-resolution graphics, misspellings, grammar errors, or anything that looks out of place. Also, be extra cautious if the website asks for any personal information, account login and password data, or credit card information.