ATS ClearCompany Log In Issue Resolved

ATS ClearCompany has fixed their issue and apologizes for any inconvenience.

ATS ClearCompany Log In Issues

IT is aware that the connection to ATS ClearCompany is not working.  The issue has been reported to ATS ClearCompany and we are waiting for a resolution.

We will update this post once the situation is resolved.

RESOLVED: Licensing issue: AspenTech HYSYS is down

Update:
The licensing issue has been resolved. AspenTech products should be fully functional again.


Original post:
ITS is aware of a licensing issue currently preventing AspenTech HYSYS from functioning.

The license expired this past Monday at midnight. We have been working with their support team since then to resolve the problem. They appear to have been closed for most of the holiday weekend.

We will update this post as soon as we have any more information.

Resolved: 25Live Severe Performance Issues

UPDATE 2:

Service interruption resolved.

We received the following update from CollegeNet:
At approximately 11:00 PST 25Live experienced a service interruption. 25Live was up and running at 12:00 PST. We sincerely apologize for any inconvenience and appreciate your patience.



UPDATE 1:

25Live performance seems to be improving. However, we have not yet received confirmation from CollegeNet that the issue has been resolved.



Original Post:

ITS is aware of severe performance issues currently affecting our 25Live instance.

We have notified Collegenet and are working to resolve the issue as soon as possible. We will update this post as we receive any additional information.

We apologize for the inconvenience.

Planned Outage - Banner & Self-Service Applications

Information Technology Services will be performing a point release upgrade to the Banner administrative systems.  This scheduled maintenance will require the server to be off line on November 20 between 8:00am - 12:00 noon.  Access to Banner and Self-service will be impacted for 4 hour.

Thank you for your patience during this short outage.

Information Technology Services

Black Friday, Cyber Monday Phishing Scams

Cyber-criminals are stepping up their cyber-scams and phishing campaigns against shoppers looking for the best deals this holiday shopping season, Zscaler researchers said. Check out some of the common spam and phishing attacks targeting Black Friday, Cyber Monday, and Thanksgiving.

Researchers have already observed a "sharp increase" in phishing and spam activities against online shoppers, and the number is expected to increase over the next few weeks, Rubin Azad, a security researcher at Zscaler, wrote on the Threat Labz blog. "The motive behind these attempts is to steal sensitive user information which includes personal credentials and financial data," Azad said. The data comes directly from Zscaler Security Cloud, with Web traffic activity for over 12 million users at 5,000 global customers.

Walmart 
Examples of phishing attacks include this fake page pretending to be from Walmart:

Amazon
This phishing page has been designed to look like a legitimate Amazon.com page and attempts to trick users into entering their credit card information:

There are also a number of fake websites offering special Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals. The URLs aren't from legitimate retailers but from unrelated domains such as "busycatholicmoms" and "postyourads." You can see a detailed list on the blog post.

Spam Lines
Zscaler also listed some of the common spam subject lines it has seen targeting online shoppers:

• Make the Most of Black Friday, with A New smart-phone
• Brand name laptops on sale for BlackFriday
• [Black Friday Starts EARLY]Saveup to 90% +FREE BonusItems!
• Walmart One Day Specials BlackFriday
• Thanksgiving Specials and BlackFriday Discounts!
• New Early BlackFriday Door busters are Added EveryDay
• Shop Black Friday to find discounts on electronics
• Search major Savings on laptops...On black-friday
• Limited Time Black Friday Deal
• 10% off Site-Wide. Get Your Black Friday Shopping Started Today!

All online shoppers should be on the lookout for these and related scams, Azad said. Users should scrutinize the source of emails touting shopping deals to make sure they are coming from legitimate senders. They should also check links before clicking on it to make sure the site is valid. E-mailed invoices are convenient, but cyber-criminals also like using them in social engineering attempts. Users should never be entering sensitive information such as payment information or login credentials on pages which aren't protected with HTTPS connections. And it goes without saying you shouldn't be shopping while on an insecure wireless network.

"We caution consumers to be extra vigilant this holiday season when shopping online," Azad wrote.

http://securitywatch.pcmag.com/spam/329927-tasty-spam-black-friday-cyber-monday-phishing-scams

It’s Phishing Season: How to Protect Yourself on Black Friday and Beyond

Black Friday is just around the corner—which means the holiday shopping season is about to get into full swing.

But crazy-long lines and fights over the last Star Wars Lego set aren’t the only headaches consumers might face come November 25.

That’s because Black Friday falls within prime cyber crime season, according to a new report from cyber security company Kaspersky Lab. In anticipation of the online-shopping deluge, digital crooks time their phishing emails, malicious links and other online attacks and scams to Black Friday, Cyber Monday and through the rest of the holiday season. By stealing your personal financial info from your computer or smartphone, they then can steal your cash—or even your identity.

Want More?

Hack This! 5 Tips for Protecting Your Online Identity

The report reveals that for the past few years, the number of online attacks during this high sales season has been nine percentage points higher than the average number of attacks that happen during the other months of the year. That same jump is expected during the 2016 pre-holiday sales season as well.

What are the biggest cyber crime threats? Phishing emails are one of the most obvious. These emails are designed to look like they were sent from a legit company, such as your own bank or an online retailer you visit frequently. They’ll ask for your PIN number or other financial info for some made-up reason, such as to confirm a purchase.

Phishing pages are endemic as well, according to the Kaspersky Lab report. These are fake websites that mimic the appearance of a known retailer’s site. When you unknowingly “buy” something and enter your credit card information to check out, your data goes to a crook.

Those innocent-looking links you receive via social media or email that lead you to great deals? That could be a cyber thief at work, too. Click the link and malware is unleashed on your phone or computer that hunts down and steals financial data from your online banking or other accounts.

Making all of this easier for cyber criminals is the fact that so many of us bank and shop via smartphone these days: By the end of 2017, an estimated 60% of all e-commerce is expected to be done from a smartphone, according to the report. Thieves look for ways to break into insecure Wi-Fi networks and poach personal data.

But let’s face it: Online and mobile shopping isn’t going away, so how can you keep your info out of the hands of criminals while still checking things off your gift list? Keep these smart tactics in mind:

Never click on a suspicious link. That goes for whether or not you know the sender. After all, he or she may have been hacked, and the link might unleash malware that steals your data.

Only shop on a retailer’s actual URL. Check the address of wherever you’re doing your shopping to make sure you’re on the website of the actual company—not a similar-looking one created to mimic the site by thieves who hope you won’t notice.

Make sure the site is secure. An easy way to tell is whether the URL starts with “https.”

Switch your phone to cellular data if you’re shopping on the go. Yes, you might have to eat into some of your data plan, but that’s better than having your financial information stolen because you’re on public Wi-Fi. Even better, install a VPN system on your mobile devices, which encrypts your data.

Use complex, unique passwords for each online retailer. It’s also safer to change them every three to four months. Sure, it’s a pain to keep track of them all, but hey, that’s what password manager tools are for.

Never give a shopping site more info than is needed. If a retailer asks for your social security number or birthday, consider it a warning sign that something’s not right.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/learnvest/2016/11/17/worried-about-black-friday-cyber-scams-6-ways-to-protect-your-money/#42e53478654a