A fix has been implemented by the vendor. They are monitoring the results, but Duo 2FA should be working properly. We appreciate your patience.
If you continue to experience any issues, please reach out to the Help Desk at helpdesk@wellesley.edu.
To: Everyone
From, more info: Nephellie Dobie, Assistant CIO, LTS x3671
LTS is aware of a current issue with Duo 2FA where new logins are not able to get past the password screen. Duo 2FA either stays at the password screen, shows a blank window, or gives an error message. We have contacted Duo support and they are aware of it and working to resolve the issue.
If you are already logged into a system, you should be able to continue to use that system without an issue. Only new logins are affected.
We will post an update once Duo has resolved the issue.
To: Everyone
From, more info: Nephellie Dobie, Assistant CIO, LTS x3671
From: Ravi Ravishanker, CIO & Associate Provost
To: All Fac/Staff
Subject: Two updates happening on Monday, July 31, 2023
Duo Two Factor Authentication will be required while establishing a VPN connection
We wrote to you earlier about this topic and said this will be implemented on July 17th. Due to technical difficulties, we were unable to complete it until now and this will be going into effect at 8 AM on Monday, July 31st. As a reminder, there is no need for you to do anything different in terms of connecting to VPN. Instead of the username and password prompts you are used to, a new Duo window will popup asking you to authenticate using your email address and password and confirm on your phone. Please note that what gets promoted and whether you need to confirm depends on your Duo setting.
Here is what we sent out with the initial explanation for making this change:
As you know, during the past few years, we have introduced the need to login through Duo for most of our systems, including web applications. This provides an added layer of security that is much needed in the current environment where cyber intrusions have become a daily occurrence. An important gateway into some of the protected data from off campus is VPN (Virtual Private Network). Whereas VPN itself provides strong security, logging into it remains vulnerable. Anyone whose password has been stolen can be used by a hacker to gain access to our network and protected data. For this reason, we need to add the two factor authentication (2FA) to VPN connections.
If you have any issues connecting to the VPN after this is in place, please contact the Help Desk at helpdesk@wellesley.edu or 781-283-3333 so we can assist you.
Are you curious when your college owned computer is up for replacement?
Simply type “Computers” in the Search bar at the top of Workday and select Computers and Tablets. As of Monday, July 31st, you will see information about the college provided devices registered under your name. If you are eligible for a replacement you will see a green check mark in the first column; if you are not yet eligible it will be blank. If you are eligible, you should also receive an automated reminder, approximately a month before your eligibility date. You can schedule your replacement by sending an email to the LTS Help Desk (helpdesk@wellesley.edu). For more information regarding hardware replacement, please see the LTS Hardware Replacement Policy.
Zoom will require that all users have updated their version of the Zoom client software on their computers and mobile phones by August 5th. And if you don’t, you will not be able to join a meeting until you do. Please note that Zoom Client is different from the Zoom web portal on your browser. It is a software installed on your computers or phones. For details regarding the client software review this – LTS Zoom Install and Sign In page.
Follow instructions provided here – update your Zoom client to update your clients as soon as you can. Not sure what version you’re using? You can check your current version here.
To stay up to date you can also enable auto-updates from the Zoom application’s settings in the General tab. We strongly encourage you to turn on auto update to avoid having to remember to update the software.
Please contact the Help Desk if you need assistance with this important update (helpdesk@wellesley.edu or 781-283-3333).
To: Everyone
From, more info: Nephellie Dobie, Assistant CIO, LTS x3671
We will be upgrading Sakai from version 22.2 to version 22.3 early Wednesday morning, July 26th.
This minor update will only take 30 minutes, and it will fix a number of small bugs. Sakai will not be available during this time.
To: Everyone
For more information: David O’Steen, Director of Research & Instructional Support, LTS x3322
After a careful review as to the cause of the inability of our users to mount Vault successfully since last Thursday, we were able to identify the issue and correct it a few minutes ago. You should be able to mount Vault and work with it like before.
In short, this is related to an automatic patch that was applied to some of our Windows servers last Thursday which began imposing a stricter security protocol for disk access. Our disk subsystems, on the other hand, were not yet capable of supporting this stricter protocol, which resulted in the issues you faced. We apologize for the time it took us to nail this down and the inconvenience this caused.
We have been successful in rolling back the patch requiring the stricter protocol so that service can be restored. We will be working to update the disk system to be compatible with the requirement, which is the long term solution. This may result in short downtimes during the next few days, but we will try to minimize the disruptions during working hours as much as possible.
As always, we do appreciate your patience and partnership. And if you continue to encounter issues mounting Vault, please reach out to the LTS Helpdesk at helpdesk@wellesley.edu.
To: Everyone
From, more info: Nephellie Dobie, Assistant CIO, LTS x3671
Currently Workday has an idle timeout of 15 minutes. That simply means if you have not interacted with Workday in any fashion for 15 minutes, you will be automatically logged out and you need to log back in. The reason why systems have such logout has to do with security. For example, if you left your machine either in your office or in a public location like the Library and walked out for any number of reasons, it is possible for someone else to do malicious things that becomes harder to track and remedy. Unfortunately, if you did not save your work before the idle timeout counter began and logged you out, you will lose your work.
Based on a few recent emails that we received in this regard, we have decided to extend this timeout to two hours. This change will take place on Friday, July 21st at 6 AM. If you are already logged in at that time, you will need to relogin for this to take effect.
Despite the fact that we now have an extension for the timeout, the security concern remains. We strongly recommend that regardless of where you are (your own office, or in a meeting room or in a public location like Library), ALWAYS turn on the lock screen when you have to step away from your device. You can read more about Screenlock here.
To: Everyone
From, more info: Nephellie Dobie, Assistant CIO, LTS x3671
LTS has been notified that some users are not able to access Vault. We are actively looking into this and will provide updates as needed. We apologize for the inconvenience this may cause you.
To: Everyone
From, more info: Nephellie Dobie, Assistant CIO, LTS x3671
As you know, during the past few years, we have introduced the need to login through Duo for most of our systems, including web applications. This provides an added layer of security that is much needed in the current environment where cyber intrusions have become a daily occurrence. An important gateway into some of the protected data from off campus is VPN (Virtual Private Network). Whereas VPN itself provides strong security, logging into it remains vulnerable. Anyone whose password has been stolen can be used by a hacker to gain access to our network and protected data. For this reason, we need to add the two factor authentication (2FA) to VPN connections.
We have implemented Duo 2FA while authenticating to VPN and it will be effective as of 8 AM on Monday, July 17th.
You will continue to use the same VPN client that you use, and no need to change the system you connect to (vpn.wellesley.edu or vpn.wellesley.edu/secure). Instead of the usual username and password that AnyConnect asks, you will see the Duo prompt you for your email address and password prompt followed by the confirmation before the connection is established.
If you have any issues connecting to the VPN after this is in place, please contact the Help Desk at helpdesk@wellesley.edu or 781-283-7777 so we can assist you.
A comprehensive review of our server environment by a company we hire to run a network security compliance testing as well as based on a recommendation of a virtual Chief Information Security Officer that we have hired, we need to maintain our on campus servers on a regular basis by applying security patches and other operating system and application maintenance. We have not been doing this for a variety of reasons and especially in the wake of constant cyberattacks, especially ransomware attacks, we need to do this. We therefore are beginning a regular monthly schedule for this maintenance and you will begin to see this type of alert sent more frequently than before. We understand that such service interruptions can be inconvenient to our users, but this is a necessity.
As a first step, we will be running maintenance updates to our systems that authenticate all users when they login. There are three of them, so when one is being worked on, the other two should continue to provide service and we do not therefore anticipate any disruptions to services. However, in the event you do have any trouble authenticating, please try again after 3:00AM.
To: Everyone
From, more info: Nephellie Dobie, Assistant CIO, LTS x3671
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