RESOLVED: Moodle Unavailable, 3/9

UPDATE, 7:10pm: Moodle is available once again. Please report any lingering issues to the Help Desk.


Moodle is currently unavailable and community members are unable to reach the homepage and login. LITS is actively investigating the issue and will work to resolve things as quickly as possible. Thank you in advance for your patience.

Please contact the Help Desk with any questions: help@brynmawr.edu or 610-526-7440.

Reminder: Password Reset Site Upgrade Tomorrow (3/8)

Reminder: Upgrades to the College’s account management system start at 1pm tomorrow (Friday, 3/8). Password resets will be unavailable from 1pm Friday (3/8) – 9am Monday (3/11).

Please reach out to the Help Desk at help@brynmawr.edu or 610-526-7440 if you have any questions!


LITS is pleased to announce that, on Friday (3/8), we will be upgrading the system that creates and provisions College accounts. Most of the work will happen behind the scenes, but there are some important things for all community members to be aware of: 

  • MFA (Multifactor Authentication) required: When community members log in to change their password, they will also need to authenticate via Duo.  
  • New look and feel: While the site will largely function the same and allow community members to change their password as needed, it will no longer direct to a Haverford web page. In addition, things will be in different places than you’re used to, so please feel free to login and take a look around. 

Logging into accounts at both Bryn Mawr and Haverford?  

If you use your College credentials to login to accounts at both Bryn Mawr and Haveford, this change will mean that you will now have a one password for all of your Bryn Mawr accounts and a separate password for all of your Haverford accounts. 

As always, please don’t hesitate to contact the Help Desk if you have any questions or concerns: help@brynmawr.edu or 610-526-7440 

 

Haverford Students Unable to Use Remote Software

Recently, Haverford students have reported issues when trying to connect to Apporto or LabStats, the software used to access Bryn Mawr licensed software from off-campus. We are actively working with the vendors to diagnose and resolve the issue, but don’t have an ETA as to when access will be restored.

While we are working on this issue, Haverford students will need to visit any of the public labs on Bryn Mawr’s campus in order to access the software they might need for classes. We apologize for any inconvenience this causes and thank you for your patience.

Please contact the Help Desk with any questions: help@brynmawr.edu or 610-526-7440.

Apple Security Updates Released for iOS devices (iPhones and iPads)

Apple recently released two security updates for iPhones and iPads. These updates address a recent zero-day exploit and it’s crucial for community members who use Apple devices to run these updates as soon as possible.

For help running updates on your iPhones and iPads or if you have any questions, please contact the Help Desk: help@brynmawr.edu or 610-526-7440.

REMINDER: Scheduled Interlibrary Loan (ILL) Maintenance, March 11th – March 17th

ILLiad and interlibrary loan services will be down for maintenance during the week of Spring Break (03/11-03/17). The ILLiad site may be visible at points during the process, but functionality is not guaranteed. Please make sure to place all interlibrary loan borrowing requests before March 11, 2024. Functionality should resume by March 18, 2024.

Please reach out to bmcill@brynmawr.edu with any questions or concerns.

Scheduled Phone System Maintenance, March 13th 8am – 12pm

On March 13th, LITS will be performing a necessary upgrade to the phone system from 8am – 12pm. During this time, the phone system will be unavailable for both incoming and outgoing calls. Community members will be able to use Teams and Zoom as alternate forms of communication.

Please be on the lookout for a message from Campus Safety regarding how to contact them during this outage.

Thank you for your patience as we perform this necessary upgrade. Please contact the Help Desk with any questions: help@brynmawr.edu or 610-526-7440.

Scheduled Interlibrary Loan (ILL) Maintenance, March 11th – March 17th

ILLiad and interlibrary loan services will be down for maintenance during the week of Spring Break (03/11-03/17). The ILLiad site may be visible at points during the process, but functionality is not guaranteed. Please make sure to place all interlibrary loan borrowing requests before March 11, 2024. Functionality should resume by March 18, 2024.

Please reach out to bmcill@brynmawr.edu with any questions or concerns.

Changes to Moodle Login Interface 9-10am on 2/26/24

LITS will be upgrading the Moodle login system for Bryn Mawr users on Monday 2/26 from 9-10am.

These changes will only impact the login process for Bryn Mawr users. Haverford logins will not be affected, and there will be no downtime or impact on the performance of Moodle itself.

For a brief period during the upgrade window, you will see an additional “Bryn Mawr test” button on the login screen when you log into Moodle. Once we have finished testing this new system and it is working correctly, we will remove the old option and this will become the “Bryn Mawr” button. The login screen you see after clicking that button will look slightly different, but function identically.

Bryn Mawr users experiencing difficulty logging in during or immediately after the upgrade window should wait a few seconds, clear their web browser’s cache, and try again.

If you have any questions or concerns, please contact the Help Desk (drop-in at Canaday Library, help@brynmawr.edu, 610-526-7440.

Warning: New Phishing Attempt, February 16th

There is another new phishing attempt floating around. This one offers a fake job opportunity and, in some cases, contains an attached file. This is a scam.

Do not respond to the email or any of the addresses listed or open any attached files.

Delete the message or report it as Phishing in Outlook. If you believe you’ve given your information to a phisher, immediately change your password and contact the Help Desk: help@brynmawr.edu, 610-526-7440.

Email scams come in many forms. While we work to keep you informed, attacks are increasingly diverse and sophisticated. It’s not possible for us to warn you of every message before you see it. Be cautious and suspicious. If you ever have a question or suspicion, don’t hesitate to contact the Help Desk.

 

 

New Microsoft Zero-Day Vulnerabilities: Your Action Required

LITS is actively working to address a number of critical zero-day vulnerabilities that affect the Microsoft environment.

One of these affects the Outlook Desktop Client. Microsoft recently released a patch to address this vulnerability so it’s critical that anyone who uses the desktop client on either a College owned or personal computer run any available updates as soon as possible. If you have any questions regarding this update, please contact the Help Desk.


Updating the Outlook Desktop Client (Wind0ws):

  1. Close all Microsoft Office applications
    (e.g., Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, etc.)
  2. Open Outlook
  3. In the top-left, click File
  4. In the bottom-left, click Office Account
  5. Click Update Options and Update Now
  6. Wait some time for updates to download and install

 

Updating the Outlook Desktop Client (macOS):

  1. Close all Microsoft Office applications
    (e.g., Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, etc.)
  2. Open Outlook
  3. In the top-left, click Help and Check for Updates
  4. Click Update
  5. If prompted, click Update All
  6. Wait some time for updates to download and install

Our systems administrators are working to update and apply security patches to backend systems. Please report any issues or oddities that you may see to the Help Desk.

We will provide updates about our efforts as we have them. Please contact the Help Desk with any questions or concerns: help@brynmawr.edu or 610-526-7440.