Academic Support Computer Rep General Meeting

Thursday May 14, 2009,

10 am - 12 noon, NH 3001

Minutes

Agenda:

• Lenovo's New M58 Workstation (Jonathan Kleinberg, Jordan Buck). 30 minutes.
• Improving Your RT Experience (Paul Henderson). 20 minutes
• Migration to Exchange for Email (Bob Hicks). 10 minutes.
• Current Security Issues (Jason Testart). 15 minutes
• Large IT Initiatives in Academic Support Departments (Dave Kibble). 15 minutes.
• WatIAM and HR (Jim Howard, Connie Van Oostveen), 10 minutes
• Site License Update (Sandra Laughlin) 5 minutes
• New Internet Explorer 8 (Tim Farrell). 5 minutes
• Symantec Endpoint Protection– new antivirus client (Tim Farrell). 5 minute
• Other Reminders and Questions (5 minutes):
  • Bookit housekeeping when people leave

Minutes:

Several topics have links in the agenda above that contain the information for that topic.

Here is a summary of the other topics.

It is important to keep the computing support rep contact sheet up-to-date. A request from someone in an academic support department not listed in the contact sheet will not be acted upon.

Current Security Issues (Jason Testart)

This meeting provided an opportunity to introduce Jason, manager of IST's security group. Jason summarized some of the current initiatives he is working on. For those that use wireless, you already know that minuwet is back. A log of wiireless issues can be found here. People should be aware of e-commerce guidelines. There are Phishing issues that you should be aware of.

Here are more details from Jason....

Wireless:

• MinUWet is now in force for the UW-WIRELESS network
• Plans to expand to the 'UW-SECURE' wireless network.
• We now have the ability blacklist problem users.
• We now have the ability to whitelist computers that fail MinUWet but have A/V software installed (handy for visitors).  Whitelists have expiry dates.

Security Policy and PCI DSS requirements:

• Security policy under development that will deal particularly with 'personal information' - as defined here:
            http://www.uwaterloo.ca/privacy/RecordsManagement/pib.html as required by FIPPA legislation
• If you have a requirement to collect and process credit-cards, you must follow established standards and procedures documented here:
             http://www.adm.uwaterloo.ca/infofin/ecommerce/ecommain.html
• PCI DSS = Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard
• The security standards are difficult to implement in a university setting, so our strategy is to have all credit card processing handled by a third party.

Large IT Initiatives in Academic Support Departments (Dave Kibble)

There are lots of IT initiatives in academic support departments. Dave should be kept informed about these initiatives. It is sometimes hard to know what "large initiatives" mean. They would, for example, include any application that involves a server. It becomes difficult to support large initiatives, especially if the people who implemented them, leave the department. IST is often asked for help in this situation, and this may not be possible depending on what is needed.

WatIAM and HR (Connie Van Oostveen, Jim Howard)

Site License Update (Sandra Laughlin)

For software purchases that are not available in the CHIP, you can contact Sandra to get quotes and possibly educational pricing.If you received an email in April concerning Bookit resources and haven’t had a chance to check the list for accounts no longer being used, please take a few moments to review the list and let me know if any need to be deleted.

New Internet Explorer 8 (Tim Farrell)

There are lots of issues with Internet Explorer 8. Pat Lafranier is documenting the issues, and please pass along any new issues to Pat. Installing IE8 means that previous versions of IE are removed. Computing reps should download and test the new browser with their department-centric software. IE will be arriving on the WSUS server sometime in July but people can get it now by signing onto a local admin account and go to Microsoft Update. 

Symmantec EndPoint Protection (Tim Farrell)

Work is being done on the two central EndPoint management servers. Once the management servers are configured, IT staff from academic support departments and the faculties will be invited to join the deployment process.

Other Reminders and Questions

When someone leaves the university we are sometimes asked to move all thier Bookit entries to someone else. We ask that Bookit agendas be cleaned up before a person leaves. It is quicker, and also it avoids the possiblity of IST transferring personal appointments that shouldn't be transferred.