The Information Resources and Technologies Tech Desk will be closed from Friday, Dec. 23, through Sunday, Jan. 1, for the Christmas and New Year’s holidays.
The Tech Desk will not be available to assist with password changes during the holiday break. On-call personnel will be available to monitor voice mail and email for emergency situations; all other inquiries for assistance will be addressed Monday morning, Jan. 2, 2012, with the resumption of normal business hours. Information regarding computing outages or security alerts will be posted on the IRT Twitter and Facebook feeds located on the IRT website.
Account holders who have forgotten passwords or have expired passwords and have not set up their identity challenge questions will need to wait for assistance until Tech Desk operations resume on Jan. 2. NetID account holders who have visited UST’s NetID system and have set up their challenge questions may use the system to change passwords 24 hours a day, seven days a week; consequently, IRT strongly recommends that all faculty, staff and students visit the NetID System to set up their identity challenge questions before the Tech Desk closes at 5 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 22.
Using the NetID system not only gives users access to password changes 24 hours a day, seven days a week, but also allows for password changes without having to divulge private information over the phone in order to establish identity. To set up identity challenge questions:
- Visit http://www.stthomas.edu/password.
- Log into the system with your NetID and current password.
- Follow the on-screen instructions to set up your identity challenge questions.
* * *
Phishing emails
IRT reminds the UST community of the dangers related to phishing emails as the holidays are a time when phishing attempts increase significantly. Be wary of phishing emails purporting to be from St. Thomas support organizations asking for confirmation of account and password information.
Phishing emails attempt to trick you into providing confidential information by posing as legitimate emails. IRT will never ask for personal information or a password in an email. Responding to phishing emails allows phishers to log into your account to access personal information, or use your account to spam the community with more phishing attempts.
IRT uses anti-phishing filters to trap unwanted email, but the reality is that as IRT advances in its understanding of how phishers work, they also advance in their methods of circumventing IRT’s security measures.
For more information contact the IRT Tech Desk.