Routine system maintenance will occur tomorrow (Thursday) from 6:00 p.m. until midnight. For more information on LITS System Maintenance: http://www.brynmawr.edu/lits/system-maintenance-policy. Please contact the Help Desk with questions, help@brynmawr.edu, 610-526-7440, or lits.brynmawr.edu.
Category: Announcements
Announcements/Updates to the BMC community
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.
- Learn how to recognize scams by completing the Information Security Education Program
- More information: Malware and spam: Phishing emails
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):
- Close all Microsoft Office applications
(e.g., Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, etc.) - Open Outlook
- In the top-left, click File
- In the bottom-left, click Office Account
- Click Update Options and Update Now
- Wait some time for updates to download and install
Updating the Outlook Desktop Client (macOS):
- Close all Microsoft Office applications
(e.g., Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, etc.) - Open Outlook
- In the top-left, click Help and Check for Updates
- Click Update
- If prompted, click Update All
- 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.
Problems Scheduling Zoom Meetings through Outlook
We are currently troubleshooting an issue that is preventing some Outlook users from scheduling Zoom meetings through Outlook. Our system admins are troubleshooting this issue with Zoom and Microsoft support, but in the meantime:
If the Zoom option is still visible when you create an Outlook meeting, you are not affected and can ignore this notification.
If a Zoom option is not visible when you create an Outlook meeting, please use one of the following workarounds:
-
- Use Teams for online meetings scheduled through Outlook. Teams is Microsoft’s native video-conferencing app and works the same way. You can include non-Bryn Mawr participants; participants join by clicking a link and do not need a Teams account or license. See Schedule a Microsoft Teams meeting from Outlook for more information.
- Manually add Zoom links to Outlook meetings. To do this, you will need to schedule a Zoom meeting through the Zoom web portal, click Copy invitation next to the meeting link, and paste that information into your Outlook meeting invite.
Our apologies for any inconvenience this causes, and we hope to have a resolution soon. Please contact the Help Desk (help@brynmawr.edu, 610-526-7440) if you have any questions or concerns.
New Phishing Attempt, February 14th
Another day, another phishing attempt.
Starting very early this morning, community remembers report getting emails with the subject “Microsoft De-Activation in Progress” and asking folks to click on a link to verify and keep their account. This type of scam occurs regularly and could come from any account and have any subject.
Do not open any 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.
- Learn how to recognize scams by completing the Information Security Education Program
- More information: Malware and spam: Phishing emails
Contact the Help Desk with questions: help@brynmawr.edu or 610-526-7440.
Tripod Maintenance, 11:30am on February 14th
Beginning at 11:30am tomorrow, February 14th, LITS will be working with our vendors to upgrade the authentication for Tripod. Though we don’t anticipate any appreciable downtime, patrons may notice that they are unable to login to their library accounts or request books while this work is being done. If you find yourself having trouble, please try again in a few minutes.
Thank you for your patience while we perform this necessary work. Please contact the Help Desk if you have any questions: help@brynmawr.edu or 610-526-7440.
Adobe Unavailable from 6-7:30pm on Thursday, 2/15
Adobe will be unavailable from 6-7:30pm on Thursday, 2/15. During this time LITS will be working with our vendors to move to our new authentication system. During this downtime, you will be unable to sign in to Adobe or modify/safe documents. After the upgrade, the Duo login screen will look slightly different.
Please report any questions or concerns to the Help Desk: help@brynmawr.edu or 610-526-7440.
Recent Phishing Attempt, 2/12
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 in which a community member asks you to click on a link to verify your email and view a document. A recent example appears to be coming from Kim Cassidy via “Help-Desk”. This type of scam occurs regularly and could come from any account and have any subject.
Do not open any 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.
If you’re not expecting someone to email you a file, you should be cautious and question why you received it.
- Learn how to recognize scams by completing the Information Security Education Program
- More information: Malware and spam: Phishing emails
Contact the Help Desk with questions: help@brynmawr.edu or 610-526-7440.
WordPress Upgrade Tonight, February 9th, 5pm – 6pm
This evening (2/09) LITS will be performing a necessary WordPress upgrade between 5pm and 6pm. During that time, community members may experience a brief service interruption. Thank you for your patience while we perform this necessary work.
Please contact the Help Desk at help@brynmawr.edu or 610.526.7440 with any questions or concerns or to report any lingering issues.
RESOLVED: Phone Issues in Cambrian Row
Update, 10:50am: LITS has resolved all of the phone issues in Cambrian Row. Please contact the Help Desk with any questions or to report lingering issues.
This morning, community members in Cambrian Row offices, particularly Aelwyd, Clynnoc, and Pensby, may not be able to use their office phones. LITS is working to diagnose the issue and to restore service as quickly as possible.
Currently, the phones in Dolwen are operating as usual.
Please reach out to the Help Desk with any questions: help@brynmawr.edu or 610-526-7440.