Summer 2019 - UNIT Progress Report

Welcome to the Summer 2019 issue of UNIT's Progress Report featuring UNIT's 2018/2019 Annual Report, the 2019 Computer Refresh, Classroom Technology Upgrades and more. This newsletter is meant to inform you about UNIT Projects, Support and Service Offerings to the University. Please let us know if you have any comments or ideas for future issues by contacting: support@villanova.edu.

UNIT Services and Collaborations

Faculty and Staff PC Refresh Update

The University 2019 PC Refresh Program provides all eligible full-time faculty/staff a new laptop/desktop computer following a phased and scheduled approach.  This program involves by upgrading current hardware models along with a software refresh while placing a high level of importance on items such as security features, storage space, speed, mobility, and manageability. UNIT and the University Colleges collaborated to migrate and distribute new computers to the full-time faculty post-graduation for May and June 2019. The Migration and distribution phase for staff occurred during the Spring 2019 semester. Between both phases of the project nearly 2000 machines were migrated and distributed.  Click HERE for more information.  

University Website Redesign

University Communications and Marketing and UNIT continue to focus on the University Website Redesign project.  The overarching goals are to create a visually compelling experience, position Villanova as a top national university, and improve and streamline our content and navigation.  Through this, over 55 new pages were launched featuring these enhancements and redesigns.  These pages included school/college homepages, an Academic Program Explorer, new administrative area home pages (Student Life, Advancement, Mission and Ministry, and others), and a new information architecture for each school and college featuring a consistent navigation experience across each.

Classroom Technologies Spring 2019 Update

UNIT's Classroom Technologies Teams were hard at work this Spring updating classroom and recording technology across campus. Below are some of the major highlights.

• The Fitzpatrick College of Nursing (Driscoll Hall)
  • To enhance the technological experience on campus for faculty, staff and students, a building wide AV upgrade in the Fitzpatrick College of Nursing (Driscoll Hall) has been completed.  These upgrades will give the College of Nursing increased Classroom recording ability, wireless AV throughout all teaching spaces, and multiroom overflow option for large events.
  • AV upgrades were implemented to the 200-seat auditorium, 200-seat lecture hall, 2 Seminar rooms and 6 Classrooms included all new Infrastructure, HD projectors, Cameras, Microphones, Wireless AV connectivity, AV VLAN, 1:1 Mediasite Capabilities and a matrixed overflow system. While 6 clinical simulation labs for health assessment, anesthesia, and critical care received upgrades including new Infrastructure, HD projectors, Wireless AV connectivity, AV VLAN bringing these Labs to Villanova's Tier 2 specifications.
  • The Dean's executive conference room also received upgrades that included a piloted integrated camera within the projection screen along with audio/video conferencing, Wireless AV, and a new control system.

• The Charles Widger School of Law
  • The Charles Widger School of Law Dean's executive conference room received updated technology to conduct high level meetings. Upgrades include a 90" High Definition display, wired and wireless AV connections, a new control system with a digital touch panel, HD camera, and premium array microphone for enhanced Audio and Video Conferencing. Classroom Technologies housed all equipment in the credenza to maintain the aesthetics of the room.
  • The clinics at the Charles Widger School of Law create opportunities for faculty to evaluate and assess students in both simulated and real-world interactions. UNIT's Multimedia Technologies, utilizing newer Mediasite technology and working closely with Law School faculty and staff, developed a cost-effective way to expand the availability of push-button Mediasite recording to all four clinic interview rooms. This Mediasite expansion reduces the need for live, student-staffed recordings, creates additional opportunities for faculty to utilize Mediasite recordings to evaluate student interactions, expands the educational process within the clinic, and fosters academic excellence.

UNIT Support Solutions

External Email Tagging

Starting June, UNIT has implemented external email tagging, as part of the University's continuous effort to reduce phishing and other email scams.  Most email scams begin with messages from a non-Villanova email (external) email system, once email tagging is enabled, these email messages will now receive an [EXTERNAL] tag in the subject of the email. Many safe and legitimate email messages come from external email systems and the [EXTERNAL] tag does not mean the message is a scam or malicious, only that recipients should take caution and read carefully.  For more information and FAQ's, click HERE.

DUO Account Protection Services

UNIT is now offering Duo, multi-factor authentication, in order to increase your account protection by verifying that the person trying to access your account is actually you. Duo's self-enrollment process makes it easy to register your phone or tablet and install the application on your device. To begin the enrollment process, please see the Duo Self-Enroll web page in the "More Info" Link or click HERE for more information. 

IT Security

Personalized Scams

Cyber criminals continue to come up with new and creative ways to fool people. A new type of scam is gaining popularity - personalized scams.

With personalized scams the cyber criminals create customized messages for intended victims, by finding information including names, old passwords, phone numbers, or other details available from the web.

Once information is obtained, the attackers send email with some personal details, which may include old passwords, addresses, names or other... The criminal uses this information to claim that they have hacked your computer and found something embarrassing. Which is followed by a demand extorting fees, or they will share evidence of the embarrassing activities.

The catch is, the cybercriminal never hacked your system. They don't even know who you are or which websites you've visited. The scammer is simply attempting to use the few personal details they have to scare you into believing they hacked your computer or device, and to trick you into paying them money.

What Should I Do?

Recognize that emails or phone calls like these are a scam. It's natural to feel scared when someone has personal information about you. However, remember the sender is lying. The attack is a part of an automated mass-scale campaign, not an attempt to directly target you. Some clues to look for:

• Whenever you receive a highly urgent email, message, or phone call be very suspicious. If someone is using emotions like fear or urgency, they are trying to rush you into making a mistake.
• When someone is demanding payment in Bitcoin, gift cards, or other untraceable methods.
• When you get a suspicious email, search on Google to see if other people have reported similar attacks or contact Support@villanova.edu
• Enable multifactor verification whenever possible

New UNIT Staff Members

In the past year UNIT has welcomed the following new employees as team members:

• Olivia Bickel- Multimedia Production Specialist
• Chris Cruz- Hardware Analyst
• Michele Dickinson - Chief Information Security Officer
• Jessica Diebold - Instructional Designer
• Richard Forcey - Multimedia Production Specialist, Level 2
• Michael Hayden - Multimedia Production Specialist
• Robert Mott - Assistant Director, Enterprise Information Services
• Adam Pincus - Instructional Designer
• Julien Purnell - Computer Support Analyst L2
• Kyle Scudilla- Director, Finance and Business Operations
• Leslie Sharp- Manager, Enterprise Web Application Development
• Dan Steinman - Classroom Technology Specialist
• Robert Taylor - Client Computing Specialist
• Alvin Wong - Instructional Designer
• Jeff Yadzinski - System Administrator - Windows
• Michael Zavertnik -Director, Enterprise Information Services