After completing the deployment of a new Comcast television streaming service for resident students during the fall 2019 semester, the campus is discontinuing the Direct-TV service we had in place. Unfortunately, the Comcast service license only applies to resident students and is not cost-effective to license for departments. DoIT has worked with procurement to select an internet streaming service, Youtube TV, that departments can purchase for their spaces. Youtube TV allows for cloud recording, a channel guide and HDTV among other new features. DoIT and procurement have worked together to provide easy access to YouTube TV that can be purchased with a departmental P-card. For more information please see our CATV FAQ. To ease the transition to a new service DoIT will continue to serve local channels over the legacy TV system through Spring 2020 semester for administrative and academic departments. 

For additional questions or assistance setting up your YouTube TV subscription you may contact DoIT through our TSC at 410-455-3838 or https://doit.umbc.edu/tsc/.

The DoIT Technology Support Center is looking to hire additional consultants to work during the Spring semester and beyond. Please see our job description below and visit our job posting on UMBCWorks to apply. (Search for TSC Student Consultant.) The application will be open until January 15th.

We're specifically looking for students available to work during the following hours:

• Mondays 12pm-6pm
• Tuesdays 2pm-6pm
• Wednesdays 4pm-8pm
• Fridays 8am-2pm

TSC Student Consultant Job Description

Technology Support Center (TSC) student consultants are the first points of technical contact for the UMBC community and those who do well often go on to work in other areas of the Division of Information Technology (DoIT). Minimally, consultants are expected to provide initial triage and support for a wide range of information technologies including accounts, hardware, instructional technologies, networking, software, telecommunications, and basic web development.

Responsibilities include, but are not limited to the following:

• Provide technical assistance to users by phone, online and in person;
• Answer TSC phones in a professional and courteous manner;
• Create, update and resolve tickets in the Request Tracker (RT) ticketing system;
• Create, update, suggest and recommend relevant FAQ articles to users (www.umbc.edu/faq);
• Provide direct assistance to users on technical issues they cannot easily resolve on their own;
• Complete in-person or online training about quality support as defined in umbc.edu/go/ticketrubric;
• Respond to all work-related communications in a timely manner;
• Escalate urgent problems to the Full-Time staff, as appropriate.

Required Skills and Experience

• Demonstrated ability to effectively communicate by phone or in person.
• Demonstrated writing ability.
• Demonstrated ability to achieve successful outcomes in handling difficult situations and customers.
• Demonstrated analytical and troubleshooting skills.
• Ability & willingness to learn coupled with a clear understanding of one’s technical abilities, so as to triage and escalate an issue that leads to an effective solution for the user.

A new VPN system, named GlobalProtect, is now available to the campus to enable access to restricted services from off-campus. Global Protect is scheduled to replace the current VPN, PulseSecure, in January 2020. The GlobalProtect VPN is fully operational and users are encouraged to migrate to the new client ahead of the January date. 

The GlobalProtect VPN has the same access and permissions as our existing VPN, and the client works with the latest versions of Windows, Mac, and Linux, as well as iOS and Android mobile platforms. 

For more information on getting started with GlobalProtect please see the FAQ here.

Ray Soellner

rays1@umbc.edu

Associate Director Telecommunications

DoIT - UMBC

Nearly 2,500 faculty and staff members’ accounts are now being protected by Duo, and the numbers continue to rise. Whether you’ve been using Duo for years, or you’re a new user, it’s nice to be reminded of a few best practices for using Duo. These tips, and a number of other topics, can be found on our Duo FAQs.

Reduce how much you’re prompted by Duo - Use Remember me for 30 days

Do you like the security you get by using Duo, but don’t want to use the second-factor step every time you log in? Simple. Just check the “Remember me for 30 days” checkbox on the Duo authentication screen.

NOTE: Only use this option on computers you control and trust. For example, your office computer or home computer. Do not use this option on public computers.

Don’t type or call - Use Push notifications

By far, the easiest way to use Duo is with a push notification to your smartphone. More than likely you have your smartphone with you. Simply press “send push” on the Duo authentication screen and acknowledge the push notification on your device.

Protect yourself from being locked out - Register multiple devices

In the event you don't have your standard authentication device with you, like your smartphone, be sure to register additional devices such as your desk or home phone.

Have more questions about using Duo? Browse our Duo FAQs, submit an RT ticket at my.umbc.edu/help, or contact the Technology Support Center (TSC) at (410) 455-3838.

Last April, DoIT announced that faculty and staff with elevated Peoplesoft access would be required to use Duo two-factor authentication. We've since worked to enroll nearly 2,500 faculty and staff members into Duo. In the last week alone, Duo protected over 20,000 individual logins to campus resources like myUMBC and Peoplesoft.

Continuing our efforts to keep the campus safe online, DoIT will be requiring all remaining faculty to enroll in Duo by November 19th.

Duo 2-factor authentication (2FA) greatly increases the security of your account by adding an extra layer of protection to the login procedure. With Duo 2FA, your account will require you to have a second-factor device physically unique to you, such as a smartphone, your office phone, or even a tablet in your possession to log in. When you log in, your second-factor device will prompt you to approve your online login. Without approval from your second-factor device, any fraudulent attempts to log into your account are denied, thus preventing anyone who shouldn't have access to your account from getting to your data.

To learn more about using Duo two-factor authentication, visit our Duo FAQ collection at https://my.umbc.edu/go/duo

If you have questions or concerns submit an RT ticket at my.umbc.edu/help or contact the Technology Support Center at (410) 455-3838.

The DoIT Technology Support Center is looking to hire additional consultants to work during the Fall semester and beyond. Please see our job description below and visit our job posting on UMBCWorks to apply. (Search for TSC Student Consultant.) The application will be open until October 25th.

We're specifically looking for students available to work during the following hours:

•  Monday 10AM-4PM
• Tuesday 8AM-2:30PM
• Wednesday 8-10AM; 12-4PM
• Thursday 10AM-8PM
• Friday 9:30AM-2PM

TSC Student Consultant Job Description

Technology Support Center (TSC) student consultants are the first points of technical contact for the UMBC community and those who do well often go on to work in other areas of the Division of Information Technology (DoIT). Minimally, consultants are expected to provide initial triage and support for a wide range of information technologies including accounts, hardware, instructional technologies, networking, software, telecommunications, and basic web development.

Responsibilities include, but are not limited to the following:

• Provide technical assistance to users by phone, online and in person;
• Answer TSC phones in a professional and courteous manner;
• Create, update and resolve tickets in the Request Tracker (RT) ticketing system;
• Create, update, suggest and recommend relevant FAQ articles to users (www.umbc.edu/faq);
• Provide direct assistance to users on technical issues they cannot easily resolve on their own;
• Complete in-person or online training about quality support as defined in umbc.edu/go/ticketrubric;
• Respond to all work-related communications in a timely manner;
• Escalate urgent problems to the Full-Time staff, as appropriate.

Required Skills and Experience

• Demonstrated ability to effectively communicate by phone or in person.
• Demonstrated writing ability.
• Demonstrated ability to achieve successful outcomes in handling difficult situations and customers.
• Demonstrated analytical and troubleshooting skills.
• Ability & willingness to learn coupled with a clear understanding of one’s technical abilities, so as to triage and escalate an issue that leads to an effective solution for the user.