IMSS offers a directory lookup service that makes it easy to find campus e-mail addresses using your e-mail client. The new service now uses data from access.caltech and replaces the old directory service. The directory service works automatically for Exchange users -- no configuration is necessary.  To use the service with Unix mail, please see our configuration guides for Outlook, Apple Mail and other clients: http://www.imss.caltech.edu/help/directorylookup.  If your mail client recently stopped looking up e-mail addresses, you are most likely using the old service so you will need to reconfigure your client. If you have any questions, please contact the Help Desk at x3500 or help@caltech.edu.

Many campus users are receiving e-mails claiming to come from Caltech that ask them to provide their usernames and passwords.  Please be aware that this is a form of security attack known as “phishing” designed to fool users into giving their usernames and passwords to unknown persons. Please do not reply to these e-mails.

IMSS recommends against providing usernames and passwords by e-mail, and IMSS will never ask users for their passwords by e-mail or phone.  If you receive any confusing or worrisome e-mails about any of your Caltech accounts, we strongly recommend you take the cautious approach by contacting the IMSS Help Desk at x3500 or help@caltech.edu or your local system administrator.

Apple released their latest browser, Safari 4.0, on June 8th.  While Safari 4.0 offers some advantages, it is new and relatively untested.  As with any new browser, web-based applications need to be tested thoroughly for compatibility before we can assure that Safari 4.0 will work well in the Caltech environment.  We are currently testing our applications with Safari 4.0 and working with our application vendors for guidance on Safari 4.0 compatibility and support.  IMSS will publish updated application compatibility guidelines at a later date incorporating our test results.

A serious vulnerability affecting most versions of Adobe Reader and Acrobat Professional is actively being exploited via malicious PDF files.  Adobe has issued updates to Acrobat versions 7, 8 and 9 to resolve this issue.  Additional details about this security bulletin can be found at http://www.adobe.com/support/security/bulletins/apsb09-07.html.

Since Firefox 2 is no longer supported by the vendor and has known security issues that can compromise your computer, IMSS recommends upgrading to the latest version, Firefox 3 for Windows, Mac and Linux users.  Please note: if you have a Windows PC that is directly managed by the IMSS Help Desk (i.e. you are a Managed Computing customer), this upgrade was already installed on your PC.

IMSS recently conducted a survey of Caltech Faculty, Undergraduate and Graduate Students with the purpose of gauging satisfaction with the current level of educational technology services. The survey will also provide guidance to IMSS as to which potential new services would have the greatest impact. The results of the survey can be downloaded here (restricted to Caltech network.)

1) Choose strong, non-guessable passwords.
2) Keep your operating system and applications up to date on security patches.
3) Install antivirus software and keep it up to date.
4) For routine computer use, use an unprivileged account.  Reserve Administrator, or accounts with Administrator privileges, for tasks that actually require special privileges.
5) Configure your web browser to distinguish between untrusted Internet sites and those you trust and frequent regularly.

Henge, Caltech's Oracle Calendar system, is being retired at the end of calendar year 2009.  Before the system is retired, current Henge users will be transitioned to the IMSS Exchange calendar system.  Please click 'Read More' for more information.

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Until we have completed testing on the recently released Internet Explorer 8, IMSS recommends that you do not install IE8 on your computer if you use Internet Explorer to access any of IMSS web-based applications such as Oracle Administrative Applications, Regis, Techmart, Famis, Kronos, PCard, etc.

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The Caltech DropBox service is now available for general campus use.  This tool can be used to send large files and is an alternative to using email attachments which are currently limited to 10MB.  For more information about using this service, click here or go directly to dropbox.caltech.edu.