Author: Bonnie Wei

Warning: New Phishing Attempt (10/4)

This morning, Bryn Mawr community members received a phishing message claiming to be from the Help Desk.  This message included a fraudulent link to accept “new terms”.  Please be wary of emails like this even if they appear to be coming from a Bryn Mawr email account or use Bryn Mawr branding, they are a scam. Do not respond to the email, click on any links, or fill out any forms. Do NOT share your passwords or Duo passcodes with ANYONE.

If you ever get an email and have questions about what it’s asking you to do, please reach out to the Help Desk (help@brynmawr.edu or 610-526-7440). Please feel free to delete any phishing messages you have received.

If you believe you’ve given your password or personal information to a phisher, please change your password immediately and get in touch with the Help Desk.

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.

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

Reminder: BIONIC Unavailable 8am Sat. 7/20 – 8pm Sun. 7/21

Gentle reminder that all Bionic services will be unavailable to both Bryn Mawr and Haverford from 8:00am on Saturday, 7/20 until 8:00pm on Sunday, 7/21. LITS will be performing necessary maintenance and updates at this time. The updates will include a few visual changes, so the log in screen will look different (please see below) but all functionalities will remain the same.

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

Action Required: Microsoft Outlook Zero-Day Vulnerability

Microsoft has released a security update for a new Outlook zero-day vulnerability. It is critical to update your Office products on Windows devices in a timely manner. Details are still emerging, so all Mac users should check for macOS updates  as well as Office App-specific updates as a precaution.

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

A new look for Duo: Starting 3/14

Reminder: The transition to Duo Universal Prompt starts on Thursday, 3/14! You will see changes throughout the week and the process will be completed by Thursday, 3/21.

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LITS is excited to announce that we will be moving to Duo Universal Prompt starting Thursday, 3/14, and continuing the process through Thursday, 3/21.

Why?  

We want Duo to be as user-friendly as possible, and this next-generation authentication experience will streamline the way we use Duo. 

How does this affect me?  

No action is required on your part! Starting Thursday, 3/14, you will notice that Duo’s appearance has changed. It will start with Bionic and then move to email and other College sites as the week progresses. Please continue to use Duo as you normally do! 

What is changing?  

The updated authentication prompt is designed to provide a streamlined authentication experience that feels simple and fast. Changes you can expect to see in the Duo Universal Prompt are: 

  • Updated visual appearance: The Universal Prompt has been visually redesigned with a simplified interface. 
  • Last-used authentication method: The Universal Prompt will remember your last-used authentication method (e.g. Duo Push, security key, Call Me, etc.) and displays that option by default. You can still access other available login methods when you click “Other options.” 
  • Automatic Duo Push: Once you land on the Universal Prompt, it will automatically send a Duo Push to your device without needing to click a button (if you use Duo Push). 
  • Support for more languages: The Universal Prompt supports English, Spanish, French, German, and Japanese. The prompt interface will use your browser or OS language settings to determine your preferred language. 
Questions? 

Please reach out to the Help Desk at 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 

 

Launch Day: Information Security Education Program


Today is the day! Your Information Security Education Program has launched. All community members with a Bryn Mawr email address (excluding undergraduates) are required to complete the program by 11/1.

Completing the program:
  1. Navigate to the United Educators Learning Portal
  2. Log in using your Bryn Mawr email address and the password InfoSec@BrynMawr1
  3. Set up a password and security question of your choice
  4. Complete the five modules with Data Security in the title by November 1st

Note: You do not have to complete the program in one sitting — your progress will be saved. On average, the entire program takes ~50 minutes.

Password not working?
  1. Request a new password from United Educators
  2. Enter your Bryn Mawr email address
  3. Check your email for a message from noreply-learningportal@ue.org containing a new password

Note: The password to the United Educators Learning Portal is not connected or related to your password for your College accounts.

Not sure if you need to complete the InfoSec Program?

Complete the short quiz below to find out!

For additional information about the Information Security Education Program, please see our Information Security Education page on the College site.

For any additional questions, please reach out to the Help Desk at help@brynmawr.edu or 610-526-7440

Bonus content:

It was a dark and spoooooky day in Las Vegas when a Spider and a BlackCat* descended upon the casinos. The Spider and BlackCat used their wily social engineering skills to gain access to the casinos’ data and hold it ransom! All (most) of Las Vegas was thrown into chaos for days and days. Tasks that were done by computers were now being done by hand! [insert scream sound effect]

To read more about this haunted happening, see Vox’s explainer of the ransomware attack.

* The groups Scattered Spider and ALPHV/BlackCat are believed to be responsible for the ransomware attack.

Happy InfoSec Season! (Launching 10/1)

It is that time of year again — Halloween! As we head into spooky season, the Information Education Security Program (InfoSec for short!) is here to help you keep mischief and trick-or-treating out of your College accounts.

Starting October 1st, community members (excluding undergraduates) will be able to access our Information Security Education Program at https://learn.ue.org/Login2.aspx Please keep your eyes out for a launch day (10/1) email for the login information necessary to complete the program!

For additional information about the Information Security Education Program, please see https://www.brynmawr.edu/lits/projects-partnerships/information-security/information-security-education

Not sure if you need to complete the InfoSec Program? Complete the short quiz below to find out!

For any additional questions, please reach out to the Help Desk at help@brynmawr.edu or 610-526-7440

Warning: New Phishing Attempt 8/28/23

Please be aware of a recent attempt to gather login, password, and other secure personal or College data from Bryn Mawr College community members.

Be on the lookout for messages titled “Mailbox storage for [your email address] is almost full.” This is a fraudulent email.

Do not open attachments, click on links, or respond in any way. 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.

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

Inadvertent Moodle Email – 8/25

Dear Bryn Mawr community,

Please disregard the emails sent from Moodle around 2pm today (8/25). They were inadvertently sent as part of maintenance work that LITS was performing on Moodle.

The emails were titled “New sign in to your Bryn Mawr Moodle account” and advised Moodle users that they had logged into Moodle and that a password reset may be necessary. While we do not believe there has been any sort of account compromise, community members who are concerned can reset their password by visiting password.brynmawr.edu.

We apologize for the confusion and are monitoring the situation. Please contact the Help Desk at 610-526-7440 or help@brynmawr.edu with any questions.

Thank you!
Jennifer Spohrer  (Hear my name)
Director of Educational and Scholarly Technology
Library and Information Technology Services (LITS)
Carpenter A5