myIT Tip of the Week

myIT Tip of the Week

Keep up to date with emergency alerts

ESU has an emergency alerts system that will send you time sensitive alerts such as when campus is closed due to weather or other emergencies.

The link for this system is located in Buzz In, located in the Quick Links column on the right hand side of the home page.

Log into the system with your Buzz In username and password.  Once in, you can add your mobile phone number and email address.  If you want to stop receiving alerts at any time, you can log back into the website and remove the mobile number or email address, or reply to an alert with the word STOP, and it will unsubscribe you from the alerts. 

Stay safe during tax time!

Have you sent in your tax returns yet? Even though it may seem far away, April 17 is quickly approaching. In recent years, tax season has been a prime time for identity theft and cyber crime. With the recent Equifax breach fresh in our minds, community members have been concerned about their personal data.

We published a blog post specifically about the Equifax breach earlier, but it is important to remember that credit cards are not the only cause for concern. Social security numbers may also be at risk and are a prime target for cyber criminals during tax time.

Here are the four most popular scams to be aware of this season:

1. IRS-Impersonating Phone Scams
   Callers claiming to be IRS employees saying that you owe money and need to pay right now. The IRS will never call you; if you owe money, they will send you a bill.
2. Phishing and Malware Scams
   Cyber criminals might try a lot of different things to get you to give up personal information. Watch out for an increase in unsolicited emails, text messages, social media posts or fake websites.
3. Fraudulent Tax Return
   The Federal Trade Commission strongly recommends filing your tax return as soon as possible. The IRS can only accept one tax return per Social Security number, so if yours is already filed, it becomes impossible for cyber criminals to file another one with your information.
4. Tax Preparer Fraud
   The overwhelming majority of tax preparers provide honest services, however, to make sure remember that the preparer must sign your return with his or her IRS preparer identification number. 

Tip: If filing online, use a well-known service, create a strong passphrase for your account and  send your tax forms through secure (https) sites only! 

If you suspect tax-related identity theft, you can contact the IRS Identity Protection Specialized Unit at 1-800-908-4490. For more information about identity theft, visit identitytheft.gov and view our 2018 Tax Time Tipsheet.

Password Managers - The Solution You've Been Waiting For!

Did you ever think about how many online accounts you have? Including the ones you forgot you even had? I started counting and gave up rather quickly. And then you are supposed to have a different password for each of them. Who can keep track of that?

To combat the "password fatigue" most of us revert back to convenient options like reusing the same passwords or saving them in our browser so we don't have to memorize them. Even if you started writing them down and storing them in a safe place, you probably stopped after a while.

Despite the struggles, strong passwords and, ideally, two-factor authentication remain to be the most important measures you can take to protect your online accounts. And help is on the way! Password managers are programs that store all your passwords in one database encrypted with a master password only you know. This makes it simple to manage unique passwords for each account. Most programs even synchronize across different devices so you can look up your passwords securely from anywhere. Some programs allow you to import login information, in others you have to manually enter it. But this is a minimal time investment compared to the convenience you enjoy later on!

What to look for when choosing a Password Manager:

• A program you feel comfortable with and that is simple for you to use.
• A solution that meets your needs (different devices, storing security questions etc.).
• Before choosing a program, read reviews and see what other users experienced.
• The program should NOT be able to recover your master password for you. This is a password only you should know. If the program can recover it, that means it is stored somewhere which creates a risk!

In the following article, you can find an overview of the most common password managers and their features https://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2407168,00.asp

Information Security for Small Businesses

The Small Business Administration estimates that small businesses create about two out of three new jobs in the U.S each year and more than half of Americans either own or work for a small business. Furthermore, small businesses play a key role in the economic well-being of our nation – that’s pretty important! Small businesses are increasingly reliant on information technology to store their data, process transactions, manufacture products, and communicate with customers and vendors. Think about the most common business operations and processes – how many of them are dependent on technology? Could a business be run today without its technology or without its data?
 

Cyber criminals, and sometimes unfortunate technological glitches, pose a continuously growing risk for small business owners. According to Michael Kaiser, Executive Director of the National Cyber Security Alliance, about half of all cyber attacks target small businesses. Small businesses have valuable information, such as customer data and payment information. A loss or breach of that data can cause business interruptions and a loss of reputation. 

But here is the good news - you don’t have to be a technology expert to secure your business! Some simple steps and a general level of awareness can help reduce risk significantly.

This month, we are very excited to host the first Small Business Information Security Workshop in downtown Emporia! Topics include avoiding phishing scams and ransomware, creating strong passwords, backing up data, choosing Antivirus protection for your business and much more. Our goal is to raise awareness about information security in the community and provide business owners with the tools and resources they need to protect their business technology environment.

Visit www.emporiamainstreet.com/cyber-security-workshop for more information and to reserve your spot!

Introducing Whiteboard from Microsoft

Have you ever brainstormed with your team and listed everything on a marker board only to have to resort to taking a blurry photo of it for posterity? How did that work out for you?

Well, now, Microsoft has come up with a solution.

As an ESU student, faculty or staff member, you have access to preview a new tool called Microsoft Whiteboard.

What is it?  It's your own personal digital whiteboard that installs on your Windows 10 computer.  Display it on a big TV screen for all to see or share with your friends and colleagues right from the app.  With Whiteboard, you'll always have your notes, brainstorms and collaboration sessions at the ready.  Resume a meeting where you left off or avoid worrying about someone erasing your work in a breakout room or shared conference room.

You can use your fingers, keyboard or a digital pen to write on the whiteboard.  It works particularly well with pen-enabled computers such as the Lenovo X1 Yoga or Microsoft's own Surface computers.

You can also create multiple whiteboards, so that you can keep previous iterations for future reference.














Whiteboard is in preview right now and is currently exclusive to Windows 10 computers.  https://products.office.com/en-us/microsoft-whiteboard/digital-whiteboard-app

-Brian Osbourn, Director, Systems & Client Solutions

History of Tech at ESU - The Mainframe

Technology is constantly evolving, and the tech at ESU is no exception. Over the years, the university has witnessed the life cycle of countless machines, software, and systems. In this blog series, I'll take you on a trip back in time to get a glimpse of the tools that were used to get work done in that day. It's all so that you can see how far we've come!

Let's start by talking about what could be called the backbone of the university in it's time: The Mainframe.

Cremer hall used to be the home of a gigantic machine from IBM called a mainframe computer. These are gigantic computers that would be used for things such as bulk data processing like processing transactions, setting up accounts, gathering data, and much more. To give you an idea of how big these could have been, check out this system from the 60s:

Pictured: IBM 7090 computer and NASA personnel circa September 20th, 1961

Rather than having a number-crunching program installed on your own personal computer, there was basically one big computer that was used by many! Interacting with it was done by typing text commands. There wasn't Windows, Mac OS, or even a mouse! You actually had to know how to talk to the computer(so to speak).

ESU purchased its own system from IBM, and staff would use it to do things like create and update records for everyone at the university. Originally you would have to access the system by using what's called a terminal: a smaller machine with the specific purpose of accessing the mainframe. Eventually people were able to install a software client on their personal computers to access it, and it even had email on it at one point!

In present day, the mainframe is no longer with us, but it still exists as a stamp in our timeline to remind us of how far we've come.

myIT Tip of the Week

3 Quick Keyboard Shortcuts for Windows

1) When stepping away from your computer it is good practice to lock your screen. To do this press and hold down the Windows Key and press the 'L' key. This will lock your screen and require you to sign back in to unlock it. Don’t know where the Windows key is? There are two on your keyboard, you can find them two spaces from the left or right of your space bar.

2) Have you ever closed a browser tab accidentally? Press and hold Control, Shift and 'T' all at the same time. This will open up the last tab closed. Did you close more than one? Press that keyboard combination again to open up the next closed tab. This trick works in modern versions of Internet Explorer, Edge, Chrome, and Firefox.

3) Did you know you can view more than one window at a time on your monitor screen? On Windows 10 you can snap your open windows to the left, right, up, or down all on the same screen. To do this hold down the Windows Key and press the Left, Right, Up, or Down Arrows.

Keep following our blog for more tech tips and tricks. You can also visit our myIT site to find tutorials on a wide variety of topics.

It's Time for Digital Spring Cleaning!

It's this time of the year... I just got done cleaning my windows, a job I really don't like! But now there is something even more important waiting for me. We often forget about cleaning out our digital lives when we go about cleaning our homes in the spring time.

Because most of our important information nowadays is stored digitally and online, this is very important, but can also be a daunting task. But fear not! There is still time to sign up for our National Clean Out Your Computer Day Workshop in which we will cover cleaning out browsers, uninstalling unused programs, setting automatic updates and much more. If you can't make it to any of the available times, go ahead and still fill out the sign up form to indicate your interest.

To make life a little easier for the future, here are some tips to keep a clean machine:

• Be sure to get antivirus software if you haven't yet.
• Organize files into folders right away.
• Regularly empty your recycle bin and clear out the downloads folder.
• Back up all your files.
• Set all software to auto-update.
• Restart your computer frequently.

At my house, things always go a little easier when we can share tasks and hold each other accountable. Start now with the Family Digital Chores Checklist!