February 29th, 2016

Today's topics:

Logitech and other brands of Wireless Keyboards and Mice: potential local security vulnerability

• We have become aware of a local exploit for some wireless peripherals connected to Windows computers. If you are using these devices on CLASSE Managed computers and believe you may be affected by local attacks, please open a service request for assistance.
• Details: https://www.bastille.net/affected-devices
• Remediation for Logitech: https://forums.logitech.com/t5/Mice-and-Pointing-Devices/Logitech-Response-to-Unifying-Receiver-Research-Findings/m-p/1493878/thread-id/73186

Direct Connections to TVs in PSB301 and PSB470

• A 15' VGA cable will be connected to the TV in PSB470 - this enables direct connection to the TV from user laptops with MiniDisplayport or vga ports
  • a MiniDisplayport<->vga adapter will be strapped to the vga cable
• A 15' hdmi cable will be connected to the TV in PSB301 - this enables direct connection to the TV from user laptops with MiniDisplayport or hdmi ports
  • a MiniDisplayport<->hdmi adapter will be strapped to the hdmi cable

Test of CLASSE Computer Quick Notification System

• CLASSE IT has been working on a system to quickly notify users of CLASSE Managed Computers of computing outages when e-mail is down for various reasons. We now have a notification system for Windows 7 and Scientific Linux CLASSE managed computers.
• So that CLASSE users are aware of what such a notification is, and what it looks like, as well as to test the full notification system, we will be undertaking a test during our Tuesday Down. Between 11AM and Noon on Tuesday March 1st, 2016, you will receive between 1 and 4 notifications that say "CLASSE Quick Notification System: Test Message #" where # is 1 through 4. Some numbers may be skipped if there are issues, or if everything works as expected.
• The notification will be a pop-up window with text and an OK button. It may also be a text based notification on your open terminals on Scientific Linux. When there are text messages, your window manager may notify you of a "Bell in Terminal / Shell" for each open terminal window.

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General network and server maintenance will occur every Tuesday from 12:00 noon to 2:00 PM. The CLASSE-IT group will always announce any expected disruptions in our NewsLetter and via CLASSE-IT-NEWS-L, but with the size and complexity of our network there is always the potential for something to go wrong. We will do our best to contain all network maintenance and planned outages to Tuesdays from 12:00 noon to 2:00 PM.

Unless other arrangements have been made, CLASSE-managed Windows systems may be updated and rebooted on Tuesday morning at 2:00 AM, so please avoid critical or lengthy operations at that time. For more details, please see SystemExpectations.

The BeamPASS application receives bug fixes and new features on Tuesdays. When these updates are made, users will be logged out but should be able to login again within a few minutes. If you find BeamPASS is unavailable for longer than that, please submit a ServiceRequest.

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Questions or problems? Submit a service request (or email service-classe@cornell.edu).

Other resources:

• CLASSE-IT Home Page
• Previous newsletters

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