Good afternoon.
The CWC IT Department announces the availability of an updated Google Calendar web interface with a new look and enhanced features. IT staff have been testing the new calendar for a while and the experience has been positive. (On your phone or tablet, the calendar app controls how calendar content is displayed - and it may already be updated.)

For a description of this new calendar for the web, go to this Google support page:

Google New Calendar Support Page

From now until February 28, 2018, you can use the new calendar or the old calendar. (After that date, Google requires all users to use the new calendar. If you do not turn it on sooner, you will be forced to the new calendar on March 1)

You need do nothing, but if you want to see and use the new calendar now on your computer:

• Login to MyCENTRAL and open your Calendar 
• On the top right of your screen click Use new Calendar.
• [To go back to the old calendar - which is available until February 28th - click Settings and then Back to classic Calendar.]

Please contact the CWC HelpDesk (307.855.2198) if you have any questions.

Bad News on Computer Security Vulnerabilities Today

CWC Students and Staff:

You may be hearing or reading today (Thr Jan 4) extensive media coverage about a severe security vulnerability that was recently made public - actually TWO issues being dubbed "Meltdown" and "Spectre".  These vulnerabilities affect both Apple and Windows computers, and other devices as well.

The two major takeaways for you:

1. CWC Tech staff are busy researching how to proceed and will act immediately once a best practice is identified.  We will take care of your CWC computers and online services as best we are able.
2. For your own computers and other devices:  Keep your devices updated.  Several big players have already released patches that will address this, and many others are expected to do so quickly.

If interested in more information, I found this CNN Money news story - and the written article below the video player -  well informed:

http://money.cnn.com/2018/01/04/technology/spectre-meltdown-cpu-flaws-explainer/index.html

UPDATE:  Now there looks like there is a THIRD reported vulnerability - only on Apple devices:
      See:

IOHIDeous is a macOS zero-day for the New Year

by Michael Heller, Senior Reporter

A newly discovered macOS zero-day flaw called IOHIDeous affects all versions of Apple's desktop operating system and can allow for full system compromise

SECOND UPDATE;  A really excellent article on the meltdown and spectre mess:  From The Skimm https://theskimm.com/archive/2018-01-05

Education institutions at risk for cyberattack

Just a short reminder to ask and beg:  Please do be very careful of emails and clicking on links in them.  Phishing attacks are a very real threat to the security of the college.  

If interested in some details, please see below for a very interesting recent article and national radio news story on one threat that targeted schools in Montana, including one community college there.

Click here:  Schools have become the latest target of cyberattacks

(Marketplace Weekend radio article Oct 13)

My snips:

• An entire school district in Flathead Valley, Montana, shut down .... More than 30 schools and a community college closed for three days, affecting over 17,500 students.
• But they're not alone. Schools in Texas, Iowa and Alabama also say they have been hacked.
• Why target a school?
• "They just sit on a wealth of information," said Michael Kaiser, executive director at National Cyber Security Alliance. "If you think of what a school has about the students, the parents, the teachers. It's an incredible amount of data which is incredibly valuable to cyber criminals."
• Often hackers send out wide phishing scams. All it may take is for someone to click on a link.

Critical Patch to Adobe Flash

Due to another security vulnerability in Adobe Flash Player this week, CWC IT recommends all computers (including home computers) are updated to run  Adobe Flash Player version 18.0.0.209 (or later) as soon as possible. This vulnerability is actively being exploited and categorized as critical.

CWC IT will take care of all computers managed by CWC IT.

How to get the patch

• Managed Workstations & other computers managed by IT will be automatically upgraded and patched.
• Home Computers:  I recommend you update your version of Adobe Flash Player as soon as possible.  
• Visit adobe.com to update your Flash Player and click on link at bottom right of their home page (See Click Here in the image below).

                      

• How long will the upgrade take?
• The updates should take less than a minute but may take up to five minutes to complete.
• Computer hardware and network connection speeds will impact the time needed to complete the upgrade.

CWC and Windows 10

MicroSoft is scheduled to release their latest upgrade to Windows 7.x and 8.x on July 29, 2015.  It will be called Windows 10 and is a free upgrade. MicroSoft is currently updating your computer with a "reservation option" as noted below.

At the college, we will not be going to Windows 10 for some time - we will want to thoroughly test it in many environments and with many applications and also want to wait and let others find all the inevitable bugs.  It is likely that we will migrate to Windows 10 sometime next year - and will announce to everyone our plans well in advance.

At home, you will decide if and when you want to do the upgrade.  It all starts with a current version Windows update that puts this icon on your computer desktop:

Here are good resources regarding Windows 10:

• Windows 10 FAQs from MicroSoft.
• How to Upgrade to Windows 10 for Free from MicroSoft.
• Windows 10 Questions Answered by Jack Schofield a good tech blog article from The Guardian.

Service Outage June 3 12:01 - 7:00 am

The following CWC eServices will be UNAVAILABLE:

• 12:01 am - 6:00 am Wednesday June 3, 2015:
• Off-Campus - Pretty much all e-services will be down, including  
• myCENTRAL portal 
• www.cwc.edu public website,
• MyClasses,  
• myAdvisor and 
• email and other Google Apps (GAFEs). 
• During this upgrade, we will redirect visitors to the public website to a maintenance page, explaining that the website is under maintenance.  RDP access for staff will be available.
• On-Campus - CWC eServcies as listed above will be unavailable, but general internet access will remain active.  
• Additionally, from 6:30 - 7:00 am:
• On-Campus - Pretty much all e-services will be down, including general internet access.
• Off-Campus - Most e-services will become available (www.cwc.edu website, myCENTRAL,portal  email and other GAFEs, myClasses, etc) except:
• myAdvisor will remain unavailable
• RDP access for staff will not be available.

John

Details on this outage if interested:

• The first outage allows CWC's website and portal vendor to do a significant upgrade of our eServcies WCMS from 7.1 to 7.3.
• The second outage is because we have had a hardware failure within our core switch which will require CWC IT networking personnel to replace one of the redundant elements of the switch.  We will do so during this maintenance window.  

Additional Service Outage this Weekend (9/27 and 9/28)

From Paul Branham - Administrative Computing Services:

This coming Saturday, September 27 6pm through Sunday, September 28, 6am is our regularly scheduled maintenance window. The following services will be unavailable for the times specified:

• myAdvisor/Colleague/WebUI/CROA - 6pm-9pm, Sept. 27.
• myCentral/Public Website - 1am-3am, Sept 28.

Additionally, these other services may experience small outages, that generally last less than 15 minutes:

• AdAstra
• ImageNow
• Active Admissions

Let email me if you have any questions or concerns.

Thanks,
Paul Branham
IT Support and Development Technician - Administrative Computing
Central Wyoming College