Category: Announcements

Announcements/Updates to the BMC community

Scheduled Maintenance: Bryn Mawr Blogs Migration to Cloud Hosting on July 7, 2026

On Tuesday, July 7, 2026, Bryn Mawr Blogs (blogs.brynmawr.edu) will be migrated from on-premises hosting to cloud hosting. This migration will improve the long-term sustainability, reliability, and maintainability of the platform. 

As part of this migration, there will be a scheduled content freeze and service disruption from 12:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. (EST) on July 7, 2026. 

During this maintenance window: 

    • Blog editing and login will be temporarily disabled. 
    • Any users logged in at 12:00 p.m. will be automatically logged out. 
    • Access to the platform will be unavailable while migration is in progress. 

Action Required:
Please save any drafts or unpublished work before 12:00 p.m. on July 7, 2026 to avoid losing unsaved changes. 

Once the migration is complete, login behavior will change for users. Please see our login documentation for users: 

Note: The new login described takes effect on July 7th after the migration.

After migration is complete and service has been restored, some users may need to clear their browser’s cache if they experience login issues or unexpected behavior when accessing Blogs. If issues persist after clearing your browser’s cache, or if you have questions about the new login process, please contact help@brynmawr.edu with Attention: Web Services. 

Thank you for your patience and support as we improve Bryn Mawr Blogs.

Duo Verified Push: Coming Wednesday, July 15th

To address vulnerabilities that have been exploited by many recent phishing attacks, LITS will be making changes to Duo Multifactor Authentication over the coming months.
  • On July 15th, LITS will enable a more secure version of Duo Push called Duo Verified Push. This change will not affect other authentication methods such as phone call or Duo tokens. More details are below under Duo Verified Push.
  • In October, after Fall Break, LITS will disable the legacy phone call and text message passcode authentication options. We will communicate specific dates and support information closer to the effective date to ensure our community is supported through this transition.

Duo Verified Push

Duo Verified Push is very similar to Duo Push; the difference will be that you are asked to enter a code in the Duo Mobile app instead of just tapping “Approve.” It will look similar to this example image from Duo:

Why is LITS changing Duo?

The unverified Duo Push, phone call, and text message passcode methods are all vulnerable to types of attack that have become increasingly common. Almost all compromised accounts over the past two years have resulted from one of these vulnerabilities:
  • Duo Push/phone call: These are vulnerable to spontaneous and fatigue attacks, where a phisher sends a Push or phone call to the victim without warning (and repeatedly, in the case of a fatigue attack). It only takes a single accidental or mistaken interaction with these methods to allow a phisher into your account.
  • Text message passcode: This is vulnerable to social engineering attacks. The most common example is a phisher, masquerading as a College employee, will text the victim about a made-up issue with their account and ask for confirmation from the victim by requesting the passcode sent by Duo.
Removing these attack vectors should substantially decrease the number of compromised accounts. While this will improve the security of our system, these changes only increase the complexity required to attack the College and will not eliminate the possibility of compromised accounts. Community members should always remain vigilant for phishing attempts.
Please don’t hesitate to bring any questions to the LITS Help Desk in Canaday Library. You can drop by in-person, call 610-526-7440, or email help@brynmawr.edu. Thank you for your continued partnership in keeping Bryn Mawr systems secure!

Network Outage – Saturday, 7/11

Starting at 8am on Saturday, 7/11, LITS staff will be working to replace outdated networking equipment on campus. While the work is being done, there will be no network connectivity (internet, S: drive, VPN, and Remote Desktop access). We will work as quickly as we can and with as little disruption as possible. Thank you in advance for your patience while we perform this necessary maintenance.
Please contact the Help Desk with any questions: help@brynmawr.edu or 610-526-7440.

Emergency BiONiC Security Patching – Today (6/17) 12pm-1pm

We will be performing another round emergency security patching on PeopleSoft today (6/17) between 12pm-1pm. During this time, all components of and services tied to BiONiC, payhistory.brynmawr.edu, account provisioning, visitor account creation, and password resets will be unavailable.

We appreciate your patience while this maintenance is being completed and apologize for any inconvenience this may cause. Normal access will be restored as soon as the work is finished.

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

Emergency PeopleSoft Patching – Today (6/11) 1:30pm-2:30pm

We will be performing emergency security patching on PeopleSoft today (6/11) between 1:30pm-2:30pm. During this time, all components of and services tied to BiONiC, payhistory.brynmawr.edu, account provisioning, visitor account creation, and password resets will be unavailable.

We appreciate your patience while this maintenance is completed and apologize for any inconvenience this may cause. Normal access will be restored as soon as the work is finished.

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

VPN Unavailable – Tonight (6/1) 8pm-9pm

LITS will be performing an urgent upgrade to our VPN from 8pm-9pm tonight. This upgrade will address a security vulnerability. During this time, the VPN will be unavailable.

Thank you for your patience while we complete this critical maintenance. Please contact the Help Desk with any questions at help@brynmawr.edu or 610-526-7440.

Rescheduled: Network Outage

The planned network outage has been rescheduled from this coming Sunday (6/7) to Saturday, 7/11. Please contact the Help Desk with any questions: help@brynmawr.edu or 610-526-7440.
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Starting at 8am on Sunday, 6/7, LITS staff will be working to replace outdated networking equipment on campus. While the work is being done, there will be no network connectivity in the morning and will transition to intermittent network outages throughout the rest of the day. We will work as quickly as we can and with as little disruption as possible. Thank you in advance for your patience while we perform this necessary maintenance.

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

New Canon Devices Coming in June

Hello,

This summer marks the conclusion of our current 5-year Canon copier lease and we have renewed for another 5-year fleet lease agreement with new devices to be delivered and installed in June.  Unlike the outgoing fleet, our new copier fleet will be predominantly color-capable devices.  And because we are staying with Canon, you will continue to see a familiar interface and can continue to expect the same level of responsiveness from the vendor regarding service and supplies.

Over three weeks (June 8, 15, and 22), LITS will be coordinating the delivery and removal of devices in their current locations with the expectation that no location will be offline for longer than a few hours.  Canon delivery teams will drop off new devices each Monday for locations scheduled for replacement that week and then return on Friday to take away the old devices (the following Monday for Juneteenth weekend).  During each week, Canon technicians will work with LITS to decommission the old devices and swap in the new machines.

We will be communicating in more detail with departmental contacts for each machine regarding schedules as well as gathering any old toner/supplies that should be returned with the outgoing device (existing toner and supplies will not be compatible with the new devices).  Please reach out to help@brynmawr.edu with any concerns. Thank you.

Best Regards,

Bill Kenny

Urgent Wireless Security Update, 5am on Wednesday, 5/13

LITS will be making urgent security updates to our campus wireless network starting at 5am tomorrow, May 13th.

Community members who are on campus may experience a 5-10 minute wireless outage while the work is being done. These outages will be on a rolling basis as each wireless access point is updated. Thank you for your patience as we complete this important work.

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