Information Technology News

Online Calendar Service

CorporateTime is an online calendar service for UCI faculty and staff administered by NACS. CorporateTime provides subscribers a common infrastructure for calendar services.

Participating users can easily schedule meetings with one another as well as manage calendars on others’ behalf, while integrating shared resources such as conference rooms, equipment, front desk or lab staffing, and other elements of the workday schedule.

CorporateTime is well suited to supporting University-wide meeting scheduling. It offers a robust server architecture and desktop client software for the Windows, Mac OS and Unix/Motif platforms, as well as access via the Web and PDA synchronization.

There are a number of advantages to using CorporateTime:

• Many campus departments use the CorporateTime service, making it very convenient to schedule meetings across campus.
• You can access your calendar via a Web browser. Whether you’re at a meeting across campus or at a conference in Europe, you can access your calendar wherever you can use a Web browser.
• You can carry a copy of your calendar on a Personal Digital Assistant. Many people now use these devices, principally the Palm and Microsoft Pocket PC platforms.
• You can view and coordinate with the calendars of others, and you can set the level of privacy of your own calendar. You can control who may manage your calendar, and the amount of information about your appointments that is revealed.
• You can notify meeting attendees via e-mail. You can send your invited guests, as well as people not using CorporateTime, all the details on important meetings via e-mail as you schedule the meeting.
• You can access your calendar 7 days a week, 24 hours a day. The CorporateTime server is maintained by NACS around the clock and is only down for maintenance Friday nights from 9 PM – midnight.

More Information: http://www.nacs.uci.edu/ct/

Departments who use CorporateTime: http://www.nacs.uci.edu/ct/orgmap.html

Computer Security Tips

Here are some simple steps each computer owner can take to protect computer systems and data at UCI.

Abide by Departmental Security Standards:

• Check with your local computing supporter to be sure you are using departmentally approved network settings, security tools, and network services.

Physical Security for Computer Users:

• Lock your office.
• Put diskettes and CDs in a locked box.
• Secure computers (especially laptops) to a non-movable piece of furniture or lock them in a drawer when not in use.
• Never leave your laptop unattended in public places.

Remote Access:

• Tools such as PC Anywhere expose your computer to additional security vulnerabilities and are not recommended.
• Some users can get the remote access functionality they need through the use of the campus Virtual Private Network (VPN).
• Users who require the facilities of Microsoft Networking are encouraged to use Microsoft Remote Desktop (called Terminal Server in Windows 2000.)

More information: http://www.nacs.uci.edu/news/2003.1.html#1

Don’t run unneeded network services:

• It is important to turn off all non-required ports on your system.
• Don’t run a Web server which is built-in unless you have a need to do so.
• To see what is open on your system run the “Shields Up” program at https://grc.com/x/ne.dll?bh0bkyd2 then click on “Test My Shields” and “Probe My Ports”.

Personal Virus Scanners:

• Obtain updates on a regular basis.
• Keep subscription to updates current.
• Set to Auto-update on a weekly basis, if available.

Please note: NACS continues to scan incoming e-mail for viruses and cleans up infected messages. This protection is available only to messages sent to @uci.edu addresses. (That is, people who receive email addressed directly to their own mail servers do not receive this benefit.)

More information on Virus Scanning: http://www.nacs.uci.edu/email/virus-scanning.html

Encrypt network traffic:

• VPN - When using network resources and applications where a password is requested, NACS recommends use of the VPN Off-campus and wireless traffic is especially vulnerable to “sniffing,” the practice of invisibly capturing, reading, and retransmitting network traffic. 
  More information: http://www.nacs.uci.edu/news/2002.10.html#1
• SSH - Secure shell (ssh) is an encrypted alternative to telnet and remote shell (rsh), wherein each packet is encrypted from the source to the destination. This prevents your communications (including passwords) from being “sniffed” while in transit. Using SSH insures that your data packets are only readable by you and the computer to which you are connecting. 
  More information: http://www.nacs.uci.edu/support/sysadmin/ssh_info.html

IM Chat:

• IM Chat (also known as Instant Messaging) is a popular, but non-secure form of electronic communication.
• Turn off all Terminal Services.
• Turn off all File Sharing.
• Check the settings in your Buddy List.

Network Planning & Security

NACS Network Planning & Security Group (NetPlanSec) responds to faculty requests for atypical network requirements, and oversees “big picture” coordination of the campus network and wide-area network initiatives. Additionally, NetPlanSec ensures that the campus network as a whole supports campus research and education, both in terms of the reliability and functionality of the network, and in terms of the security of computers on the network.

NetPlanSec includes:

• Garrett Hildebrand (Manager)
• Mike Iglesias (Computer and Network Security Coordinator)
• John Lenning (Network Consultant)

Network Engineering

NACS Network Engineering plans, implements, maintains, and supports the UCI campus voice and data network infrastructure.

This includes the fiber optic data backbone, copper telephone cable, Ericsson telephone system, building routers, and repeaters/hubs.

They also maintain UCI’s off-campus network connection to the Internet, and UCI’s off-campus phone connection via SBC (formerly Pacific Bell) and long distance service providers.

The group includes:

• Clyde Higashida (Network Engineer)
• Jon Iliescu (Junior Network Engineer)
• John Schaefer (Telephone System Network Administrator)
• Michael Scott (Senior Network Engineer)

It is managed by Brian Buckler, Assistant Director of Network Operations.