Category: Announcements

Announcements/Updates to the BMC community

LITS Pushing Updates to College-Owned Computers today (Monday, 6/26)

Apple recently released security updates to iOS and OS systems. These updates address a zero-day vulnerability. It is crucial that all community members update all of their Apple devices, including iPads, iPhones, computers, and Apple Watches as soon as possible.

Beginning this morning (Monday, 6/26), LITS will begin pushing this critical update to all College-owned Apple computers.

The update will automatically download and install. The computer may shut down or restart without warning; please remember to save your work early and often.

Thank you for your patience; we are working to address this security concern as quickly as possible. If you’re not sure you’ve gotten the update, don’t hesitate to contact the Help Desk: 610-526-7440 or help@brynmawr.edu.

Alert: New Phishing Attempt 6/23

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 that are titled “Important Review” with a QR code in the body of the email. This is a scam.

Do not open attachments, follow the QR code 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.

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.

RESOLVED: Community Members Unable to Print to Canon Printers

Update, 2:00pm: All community members should be able to print to Canons once again. Please report any lingering issues to the Help Desk.

Starting this morning, College community members are reporting that they are unable to print to Canon printers. LITS staff members are actively investigating the issue and are working to resolve things as quickly as possible.

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

RESOLVED: Some Bryn Mawr College Services Unavailable

Update, 9:15am: Community members are now able to log in to all services as usual. Please report any lingering issues to the Help Desk.

Starting this morning, community members are unable to login to some Bryn Mawr services, including EZBorrow, eMarket, Interfolio, Domain of One’s Own, and Parchment. LITS is working to diagnose and resolve these issues as quickly as possible. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.

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

Office 365 (Email, Calendar, OneDrive) Issues Today, 6/5

Starting this morning, community members began having trouble using Office 365 services, including email, calendar, and OneDrive. This is a Microsoft wide issue and we don’t currently have an estimated time for resolution. We will provide an update as soon as we have one from Microsoft.

If you have any questions, please contact the Help Desk: 610-526-7440 or help@brynmawr.edu.

RESOLVED: MiCollab Unavailable, Tuesday 5/30

Update (5/31/2023, @8am EST): Service has been restored to College softphones and the MiCollab application. Unfortunately, as part of this restoration, changes made to your voicemail after March 7th, 2023 have been reversed. Here’s what that means for you:

  • Any voicemail messages received after March 7th are gone and irrecoverable.
  • Any voicemail messages deleted after March 7th will reappear. These messages can be safely deleted.
  • If you requested a voicemail PIN reset after March 7th, please submit a new ticket if you’re unable to access your voicemail.
  • Any new community members that started after March 7th may need to re-set up their voicemail. If you have an assigned extension, but cannot set up your voicemail, please contact the Help Desk.
  • Any changes to your voicemail greeting after March 7th may have been reverted.

Please direct any questions to the Help Desk at help@brynmawr.edu or 610-526-7440.

Update (5/30/2023 @11am EST): Community members are still able to access their voicemails from their physical desk phones, but may not be able to when calling in.

Starting late last week, community members began experiencing issues logging in to and accessing their College softphone, icluding making and receiving calls and checking voicemail, via MiCollab. Anyone who was logged in to the service has been logged out and anyone attempting to log in gets an “invalid password” error message.

LITS is currently working with the vendor to resolve the issue. We apologize in advance of any inconvenience this causes.

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

New Phishing Attempt 5/24

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 that share an attached Word document, particularly if you were not expecting it. This is a scam.
  • Also watch for emails directing you to contact a non-BMC email account for an employment opportunity. This is a scam, too.

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.

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.

Moodle 4.1 Coming this Fall

Before the start of the fall 2023 term, LITS needs to upgrade Moodle from its current version (3.11.11) to version 4.1.

This upgrade will require significant downtime for Moodle, but we are developing an upgrade process that we hope will be minimally disruptive as possible:

  • Moodle will be completely unavailable on August 14, 2023 while we perform the final part of this upgrade.
    • We have worked with departments hosting summer programs and orientations to identify this as the least disruptive date.
    • Departments should plan for full-day outage, but we will try to shorten that if possible.
  • Unlike in past major upgrades, we will not need to have two sites running simultaneously. This means:
    • The Moodle URL (moodle.brynmawr.edu) will not change.
    • We will not need to copy content from one site to another. Everything that is on Moodle on Aug 13 (including fall 2023 academic courses) will still be there on August 15.
  • Access to Moodle Archive (https://moodlearchive.brynmawr.edu/) will end on August 14.

Most changes to Moodle 4.1 are interface changes designed to make the site easier to use or incorporate add-on features (such as the collapsible topics course format) into the core software. We will post additional details in the coming months and provide advance demos and faculty and staff support options in August-September to make the transition as smooth as possible.

If you have any questions or concerns, please contact us via the Help Desk (help@brynmawr.edu, 610-526-7440) or schedule a meeting with a member of the Moodle support team.

 

Unscheduled Moodle Maintenance: Monday, May 15

LITS will be performing emergency maintenance on Moodle at  8:00 AM on Monday, May 15, 2023. The upgrade will address security vulnerabilities and should last approximately 10 minutes. People who are already logged in should experience minimal disruption during the maintenance window.

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