University Hacking Attacks and Data Breaches

There have been a number of very high profile hacking incidents affecting US and UK Universities with the most recent being widely reported in the media.

From my experience, University computing environments tend to be far more heterogenous than would be found in a business or corporate setting and the management of systems more distributed making security an even greater challenge. This combined with the very fast Internet links into Universities make them good targets for hackers or spammers.

There are a number of things we can all do to reduce the likelihood of an incident. I've listed a few below which is not exhaustive by any means:

• Regular internal and external penetration testing should also be encouraged to ensure the external posture of Internet facing systems is known and remedial action taken where required
• Regular patching of systems and applications to ensure software is maintained at current and supported levels.
• An information security policy which is maintained and widely known throughout an organisation
• Basic good practice around access and identity management including firewalls, anti virus and anti malware solutions.

There is some very good advice available at  https://www.getsafeonline.org which I would encourage everyone involved in the support of IT to read. It's also written in a way that all ICT users can make use of the advice across a wide range of areas.

BT Openzone - University of St Andrews

Following the expansion of the University's wireless network to all campus buildings and all University owned accommodation (including bedrooms) we wanted to be able to leverage this asset further. By working with a third party it was recognised we could provide wifi services to a greater range of campus visitors by separating our academic wifi requirements from our public requirements. This was also essential to ensure we remained within the terms of our contract with Janet UK our network provider.  

BT Scotland Director Brendan Dick said: “BT is really excited to be working on this project with the University of St Andrew, bringing a 21^st century technological advantage to a historic town. It will not only provide widespread wireless internet access for visitors to university sites, but has the potential to be extended out across the town benefiting local residents, business people and visitors.

“A public BT Wi-fi network would be a major new asset to help enhance the visitor experience for the thousands of tourists, shoppers and golfers who make a significant contribution to the local economy. The University of St Andrews is to be commended for its vision and its wish to make sure that its local community can also reap the benefits of its technological development. We look forward to working closely with the university on the project in the months and years ahead.”  

We launched this service today on a small part of the campus and will roll this out further to all areas of the campus before the end of the year. This will provide members of the public, visitors and non academic conference delegates the ability to access the Internet.

IT APPRENTICES

Sam Foster, Peter Woodbridge and Steven Gonzales start with us today (10^th September 2012) as IT Apprentices.  I think we're one of the first, if not the first University in Scotland to offer IT Apprenticeships.  

 

The new recruits will be working in the Service Desk, Web and Desktop teams – gaining a wide range of technical, practical and customer care skills.  

I’m delighted that we are able to offer three apprenticeship posts in my team for up to two years.  It will give these young adults a great ‘on the job’ learning experience, whilst receiving invaluable training and support from QA (the UK’s leading learning company).  Our new recruits will tap into a wide range of IT expertise at St Andrews and in turn allow us to produce the IT professionals we need in the future.  Steven, Peter and Sam will be joining the University at a very exciting time – as we approach our 600^th anniversary.  We’re the third oldest University in the UK – but we work hard to be innovative, customer-focused and forward-thinking in terms of IT.  I very much hope that they enjoy their experience and relish the wide range of skills and experiences we can offer them.

Sam Foster, me, Peter Woodbridge and Steven Gonzales

Background: 

The Scottish Government has made a commitment to guarantee a place in training or education to all 16-19 year olds.  The aim of this initiative is to make it easier for young people to have access to opportunities and also for employers to have access to a community of high quality young people looking to do an apprenticeship as well as help improve Scotland’s economic future.

The apprenticeships were advertised on the IT page of the ‘Apprenticeships in Scotland’ website as well as being directly targeted towards local schools and colleges.  http://www.apprenticeshipsinscotland.com/jobs/it/

Current clients of ‘Apprenticeships in Scotland’ include:  BBC, IBM, Microsoft, Virgin Media, BT, Volkswagen, Diageo and Fujitsu.

http://apprenticeships.qa.com/

UK IT Industry Awards 2012 - Finalist

I'm delighted to confirm that the University of St Andrews is a finalist in the UK IT Industry Awards Project Excellence category. The project nominated is our Butts Wynd Data Centre which we completed in 2011.

This is well deserved recognition of the excellent work undertaken by my IT Services team, in conjunction with our colleagues in Estates, to deliver a high quality and highly efficient data centre. 

I've always considered this facility to be one of the building blocks in creating a world class Platform which underpins every aspect of the University's operations. 

This is a significant achievement, as being UK wide, the competition is always considerable.The BCS and Computing UK IT Industry Awards are a platform for the entire profession to celebrate best practice, innovation and excellence. 

David Clarke MBE, Chief Executive Officer, BCS, The Chartered Institute for IT says: "Congratulations to the finalists; they can be proud of their achievements in reaching this stage of our prestigious Awards.  Through the Awards we aim to demonstrate not only the innovation and professionalism of those working in IT but also the importance of IT in delivering business and social benefit."

The winners will be announced on 14 November 2012.  I'll keep you posted!

http://www.ukitindustryawards.co.uk/static/2012-shortlist

New Student Printing Solution

Following a competitive tendering process the University has selected Capital Solutions and Betasoft to provide its new student printing solution. The solution will provide a significantly enhanced printing experience for students with HP multi-functional devices (MFDs) located across the campus.

http://www.capital-solutions.co.uk/capital-seals-deal-st-andrews/

It is crucial that we provide the best range of service possible for our students and that these are fully supported and reliable.

This is a secure ‘pull’ print service – meaning a student can select print, then collect their print job at a time and location suitable to them (instead of their print job churning out at the nearest printer).   The service is ‘managed’, which means the Print Team are automatically alerted when toner cartridges need replaced or paper supplies are low,  therefore the students should experience very little or no downtime of the MFDs.  Students will, for the first time, have the option to scan (for free). 

We're looking forward to welcoming our new and returning students in less than 2 weeks - they will be sure to tell us what they think!  

Rohit from the Service Desk Team
using one of the MFDs

Super Hi-Vision Television Standard

Myself and some colleagues were recently invited by Janet UK to an event to experience the new TV standard - Super Hi-Vision - at BBC Scotland in Glasgow.  

https://www.ja.net/products-services/janet-futures/international-collaboration-super-hi-vision-bbc/glasgow 

NHK (the Japanese broadcasting giant) had recorded some footage of the London 2012 Olympics which was shown at the event. From my perspective it was very much like I was at the actual event with the picture quality and sound being unbelievable.  This pioneering technology transmits images 16 times sharper resolution than standard HD television. 

I'm pleased to see today that the UN's communication standards setting agency have approved the new standard.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-19370582



location - BBC Scotland
centre - Prof Celia Duffy,
Director of Academic Development,
RSAMD (event chair)

Energy Efficient Data Centre at St Andrews

Made by FutureTech UK in June 2011.