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On August 11, 2003 the W32.Blaster worm was released into the wild. This worm proceeded to infect hosts vulnerable to the Microsoft RPC/DCOM security vulnerabilities found in Microsoft Windows Operating systems. The details of this vulnerability are covered in Microsoft's Security Bulletin MS03-026.
I&IT is using a scanning tool that identifies machines that are not patched to prevent susceptibility to the worm. When the scanning tool detects a machine that is not patched, it will attempt to send a message box to that computer's screen. The text states:
"The Cal Poly Pomona I&IT division has detected that your
computer is susceptible to a wide spread network attack. You must immediately
patch your computer as described on the I&IT Helpdesk web page http://www.csupomona.edu/~helpdesk/news/exploit.htm
You may download the patch for your Windows Operating System at the following
site. Please contact your department technician or the I&IT Helpdesk at
x6776 if you have any questions. Patch Site:
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/treeview/default.asp
?url=/technet/security/bulletin/MS03-026.asp.
Sincerely, your I&IT division."
If you see this message in a pop-up window on your computer. Please take immediate steps to apply the patch as described in the message.
During the summer quarter, I&IT established a Security Office for the campus. Headed by Dan Manson, faculty member in CIS, this office serves as the focal point for a variety of information and computer security efforts on the campus. Dan has organized an Incident Response Team with representatives from various campus units who need to work in a coordinated fashion to identify and respond quickly to problems from worms, viruses, network attacks and other security violations.
Dan is also representing Cal Poly Pomona on a CSU-wide security group that will be sharing information and practices across the system schools. If you are interested in learning more about the activities of this office, please get in touch with Dan by email or phone, x3244.
Over the summer, the Cal Poly Pomona network backbone experienced frequent outages and bouts of intermittent instability. While some of the problem was caused by the RPC vulnerabilities and related worm attacks, the primary cause was some fundamental architectural issues with our backbone.
Meetings between the technical and management staff from I&IT and representatives from the Chancellor's Office and SBC (prime contractor for the CSU networking project) resulted in a plan to move quickly towards a routed backbone, which would involve breaking up at least some of the VLANs currently deployed on campus.
After a series of meetings with techs representing almost all of the units on campus, a short term stabilization plan was developed and is currently being implemented. Concurrently, a needs analysis was conducted to capture the requirements necessary to move into a full redesign of the network, a process that was required by participation in the CSU networking project that is providing all campuses with an improved voice, data and video network infrastructure.
As part of our efforts to combat and control the spread of viruses and worms, as well as efforts related to computer security, I&IT will disable network ports when traffic patterns or scanning results indicate a pattern of abnormal activity. Some ports are disabled automatically by campus network equipment when anomalies are detected.
If you believe that your network port has been disabled, please contact the HELP Desk at x 6776. An incident ticket will be generated and the situation will be investigated. The investigation will determine if the problem is a faulty port, an infected computer, or an unauthorized use of the campus network. Once a determination is made, steps will be taken to correct the underlying problem. Once the problem is resolved, the port will be enabled for use. Although I&IT has recently trained and authorized additional staff to enable ports, the process from shut-down to resuming full functionality may take a few days depending on the overall workload and the particulars of the situation. You can check with the HELP Desk on the status of the investigation and subsequent turn-on of the port.
Interest in using video as part of instruction is on the rise at Cal Poly Pomona. I&IT provides two studios that can be scheduled for class meetings or for use by faculty interested in recording part or all of a lecture or presentation. The number of requests for access to these facilities has greatly increased over the same time last year. If you are interested in reserving one of the facilities or in creating a video for use in a class, fill out the project request form (link?) and someone from I&IT will contact you within 48 hours with a response.
The implementation of a new student system not only involves setting up various business processes such as student registration, it also involved converting information from the old system to the new system.
Abel Zamora and Karen Schott , from I&IT Applications, work with the various business-function teams to map the data from the old to new system, write the numerous computer programs, as well as coordinate the correction of any errors identified in the process.
Below are some facts and stats that you may not know about data conversion. Our implementation process involves converting:
231,617 people,
11,000 course catalog entries since 1992,
124,000 courses scheduled since 1992
over 4 million academic history items for students attending since 1992,
and thousands of other historical academic records for students attending since the beginning of our electronic records in 1955.
The go-live dates for our new PeopleSoft Student Administration system are as follows…
Prospect: December 2003
Admissions: January 2004
Financial Aid: March 2004
Catalog & Schedule: March 2004
Transfer Credit: April 2004
Registration: April 2004
Tuition Calculation: April 2004
Student Fee Bill: May 2004
Disbursement: June 2004
Grading: June 2004
Advisement/Degree Progress: October 2004
The Project Office hosts a project website (www.csupomona.edu/psp) with information related to all of our PeopleSoft applications (HR, Finance and Student Administration). Information is available related to our project status, prototyping process and decisions, as well as archives of information related to our prior implementations.
For any questions or concerns regarding Cal Poly Pomona’s PeopleSoft project or our current SA implementation, contact:
Carol Heins-Gonzales, Project Director, at x6335 or Email at cheins
Rose Kukla, Student Implementation Manager, at x6376 or Email at rkukla
Studio Six is a new high-end digital video and web development environment. The facility, located in Building 98 C6-13, includes 24 state-of-the-art computer systems with a wide variety of multimedia and digital content development software. The I&IT Learning staff officed in Studio Six specialize in web development, graphic design, learning management systems, instructional design, video production and photography.
Assistance is available to faculty and staff on a walk-in basis. Faculty members can also request appointments for one-on-one assistance in their office or at our state-of-the-art studio.
Hours:
Monday - Thursday 8:00am - 9:00pm
Friday 8:00am - 5:00pm
Telephone: x3099
Faculty members seeking help with creating course content, developing web pages or working with WebCT and Blackboard can make an appointment for a personal consultation in their office or in Studio Six. I&IT Learning employs a select group of students who are trained in the use of multimedia, web and course management technologies. Through the On Call service, they can meet with faculty on a one-to-one basis to assist faculty in using technology in their teaching. To make an appointment or to request additional information, call x4288.
WebCT 4 has been installed and is ready for faculty to use for their courses. This version of the course management software differs from the previous version in several ways. The first change that a user may notice is differences in the visual style of the product. The controls have been grouped and positioned to facilitate easier access and more efficient course design.
The new product version also makes it possible to create content modules offline using applications such as Microsoft PowerPoint, and then to be able to directly import them into WebCT, with all of the structure and linking intact. Also a new HTML Editor with spell-check is included in this WebCT 4, providing course designers with "What You See is What You Get" (WYSIWYG) content creation and editing capabilities.
WebCT workshops are scheduled throughout the fall quarter covering a variety of topics including instruction on migrating courses content from previous versions of WebCT. The earlier versions of WebCT will be available for use in courses through the end of the winter quarter.
Many faculty and students have expressed a desire for a course management system that would be easier to use than WebCT. In response to that need, I&IT has purchased a license for the Blackboard course management system.
Blackboard 6 provides features similar to those in WebCT, but has a reputation for being a simple, easy-to-use system because it requires no knowledge of HTML to create courses. In addition to the course management aspects including content creation, white boards, discussion boards, assignments, online assessment, and grade books, Blackboard also provide a community portal that can provide students and faculty with a personalized gateway to all of their courses that use the software system. Additionally, students can select particular tools and resources, such as a dictionary, thesaurus and various news sources, to be available through their personal portal page.
I&IT plans to make Blackboard available for faculty and student use in the winter quarter. The system will be available for creating courses in November and workshops will be scheduled for November and December. During this academic year, I&IT will be working with faculty and students to evaluate WebCT and Blackboard to determine which system best meets the needs at Cal Poly Pomona.
A new service has been added to the student information system, allowing students to view their fee information over the Internet, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. I&IT Applications and I&IT Systems worked collaboratively with University Financial Services, and the work involved installing new servers, installing new software, setting up connections with financial institutions and testing the features. In addition to viewing fee information, students also have the option of making payments using their credit card. Credit card transactions are processed very rapidly using a secure Internet connection. After a month of operation, 30% of all payments are occurring thru this service, and this has had a positive effect on the Cashier's Office, allowing staff to simultaneously serve a larger number of students and provide a higher quality of service.
Working with the Registrar's Office, I&IT Applications setup a new service to automate degree verification requests. The Registrar's Office receives a large number of such requests, and in the past these have been processed manually using a labor-intensive process. The campus decided to use the National Student Clearinghouse to provide an independent and secure service, allowing students, potential employers and financial institutions to confirm the awarding of Cal Poly degrees.
The service is offered over a secure Internet connection, 7 days a week, 24 hours a day, and uses information on all Cal Poly degrees awarded over the last 23 years - over 46,000 individual degrees.. Information on new awarded degrees is automatically provided to the service from our student information system.. In addition, verification requests for degrees awarded prior to 1980 are automatically communicated to the Registrar's Office, where the information is pulled from hard-copy records and entered into the service. The users of the service pay a small fee for degree verifications, and there is no cost to students or the campus. Automating this process will save the Registrar's Office a substantial amount of time, as well as provide faster and more efficient service to our students and alumni.
