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January 2018
Radford Home
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Division of Information Technology
P.O. Box 6888
Radford, VA 24142
Phone: (540) 831-5173
Fax: (540) 831-6217
Email: cio@radford.edu
Security Tip
If an email creates a sense of urgency that you must click a link and perform an action in a short amount of time, tread cautiously. Hover over the email link to see if it actually goes to the destination you planned. Criminals are getting smarter and will brand emails to look deceptively real; it's not enough to look for misspellings or bad grammar. The best rule of thumb is to treat emails suspiciously and take a few seconds to look over the email for the warning signs detailed above.
Banner Tip
In the General Menu, Banner INB retains a list of forms you have accessed during your current Banner session.
This list can be accessed by using the Go To field on the General Menu page.
Use the up and down arrow keys to access forms you have previously entered during your current Banner session.
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Division of Information Technology
Radford University
New IT Security Training – SANS Security Awareness
The Division of Information Technology (DoIT) is excited to announce we will be migrating to SANS Security Awareness as our security training provider.
We have finalized the curriculum and our pilot groups have given us positive feedback in comparison to the previous MOAT training.
SANS Security Awareness is an online video-driven training program. Each video is 2-5 minutes long and is followed by a few interactive questions.
Some of the topics covered include email, web browsing and securing sensitive data. We are still finalizing the implementation plan, but anticipate a transition during the spring semester. Please disregard any emails you receive from MOAT as that system is decommissioned. Look for future emails from SANS as you are enrolled in this new program. If you have any questions, contact us at itsecurity@radford.edu.
Remote access to Virtual Labs
DoIT is pleased to announce a new virtual lab environment available starting with the spring semester 2018.
Students and faculty can use this virtual lab to access powerful software at their convenience without investing in expensive hardware or software.
Creating this workspace in the cloud allows us to offer access to SAS, SPSS, JMP, ARCGIS and Maple without worrying about physical access to closed campus buildings.
Students and faculty will be able to log in with their Radford University ID and password anytime from anywhere to work on class projects.
Disaster recovery
Employees from DoIT, Emergency Preparedness and University Relations participated in disaster recovery tabletop exercises on Dec. 8 that addressed four potential disruptive scenarios.
Scenarios included the data center firewalls going offline, university phone servers crashing, corrupt data in one of the Banner databases preventing student access to transcripts, and a malicious distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack during a publicized media event.
Each scenario required participants to contemplate how they would respond to the event and restore service, while balancing the responsibilities of notifying various parties with updated information.
The exercises were a great experience and we look forward to following it up with a functional (real-life) disaster recovery exercise in May 2018.
The project management lifecycle
The project management lifecycle is a roadmap to accomplishing the goals of a project. The Project Management Institute (PMI) defines these processes in five phases:.
Phase 1: Project Initiation
Setting the overall project direction, defining objectives and gaining approval.
Phase 2: Project Planning
Developing a plan that will accomplish the objectives of the project within the established parameters.
Phase 3: Project Execution
Carrying out tasks in the plan to complete deliverables and report progress.
Phase 4: Project Monitoring and Control
Managing change and measuring progress in regard to schedule, budget and quality of deliverables.
Phase 5: Project Closure
Documenting the acceptance of the completed project along with lessons learned.
Malicious email attachment blocking with Exchange Online email protection
Over the past few months, several users have reported problems sending email attachments. For several years, Radford University has blocked incoming attachments that contain executables, macros and zip files due to their high use by hackers to distribute malware.
With the move of faculty and staff email to Office 365, these blocks now protect internal Radford University email as well.
If you send an email with multiple attachments, the entire email will be blocked even if only one attachment is blocked.
For documents that contain macros, unless the macro is critical to the document, you may re-save the document without the macro and it will not be blocked. For zip files, you may rename the file and include .renamed as the extension (filename.zip.renamed) and it will not be blocked. You may also consider sharing these files using Office 365 One Drive sharing.
If you have any questions, please contact the Technology Assistance Center at 540-831-7500 or submit a support request at www.radford.edu/onestop.
Exchange anti-malware protection FAQ:
Q. Where does malware scanning occur?
A. Malware scanning is performed on messages sent to or received from a Radford email mailbox.
Q. Does the service scan internal messages for malware?
A. The service scans all inbound and outbound messages, as well as internal messages sent from a Radford user to another Radford user.
Q. I received an email with an attachment that I am not familiar with. Is this malware or should I disregard this attachment?
A. We strongly advise that you do not open any attachments that you do not recognize.
Q. Can the service scan compressed files (such as .zip files)?
A. Yes. The anti-malware engines can drill into archive (compressed) files (such as .zip files). Rename or consider using Office 365 OneDrive to share files.
Technology Training Offered in February
Academic Technologies offers a number of workshops each month for faculty and staff. If you need training that is not included on this list or would like to request a one-on-one, group or custom technology workshop, contact Academic Technologies at 540-831-7521 or acadcomp@radford.edu.
You may also visit the Solution Library at https://www.radford.edu/onestop for a variety of online tutorials, Quick Reference Guides, "how-to" videos and articles to assist you with campus technologies.
To register search for "training" in the ITOnestop Solutions Library. You will find an up-to-date listing of the technology courses offered and the link to register for each.
The sessions act as an excellent introductory to a technology new to you or a way to dive further into something you would like to use more effectively.
ITOnestop also contains step-by-step instruction sheets for a variety of commonly asked questions. Use the ITOnestop link above and select the Solutions Library to search for quick answers to your specific technology questions.
Meet the DoIT Staff
 Andrew Travis
Information Security Officer
How long have you been employed in the Division of Information Technology at Radford University? 3 1/2 years
Family: My wife, Amy, and our 2 1/2 year old daughter, Jillian.
Hometown: Pulaski, VA
Education: B.S. in computer engineering from Virginia Tech with a minor in computer science; Cisco Certified Network Professional (CCNP).
Interests/Hobbies: Building stuff out of wood, brewing beer, getting outdoors, being a big kid with my daughter and niece.
Favorite vacation destination: Little mountain towns with live music. Definitely Asheville, NC!
Favorite part of your job: Enterprise technology allows me to always continue learning. Also, I work with the nicest people. Y'all are like family, and I love working with you.
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