Archives: Bulletins

On Wednesday, April 21, from 10:00 to 10:30 p.m., Information Technology Services (ITS) will be making changes to the Cisco AnyConnect Virtual Private Network (VPN). After the maintenance period, the VPN client will automatically update upon launch for all users on managed or unmanaged computers.

Impact of the change on users:
The VPN may be intermittently and briefly unavailable during the maintenance period.

Windows users: After completing the installation of the updates, you will need to reboot your Windows computers.

For information about the VPN, see its.gmu.edu/vpn.

If you need assistance or have issues connecting to the VPN after the maintenance period, please contact the ITS Support Center at [email protected] or 703-993-8870.

Information Technology Services (ITS) is warning the Mason community about a phony job offer targeting students.

There are variations of the email going to students’ email inboxes encouraging them to apply for a pet care-related position. The position is supposed to pay $400 a week for nine hours of work.

If students reply, they are asked to provide an alternative email address and their mailing address for the employer to contact them. The fake employer will send out a bogus check – most times for $2,000 to $3,000. The fake employer will ask the student to deposit the check into his/her checking account, keep $400 as an initial payment and send the remainder of the money back to the phony employer. However, there are not sufficient funds to cover the check.

Alerts for these phishing emails have been posted, and recipients are being notified. If you received this email, you should delete it, and not respond or forward it. However, if you have responded to the email, please contact the ITS Support Center at 703-993-8870 or [email protected].

To identify opportunities to continuously improve our service to faculty, Information Technology Services (ITS) is administering its annual IT Faculty Services survey. Hearing from stakeholders in the faculty community is critical and will provide insight to track and measure the services faculty value and our performance in meeting needs.

The survey is open from Tuesday, April 6, until Wednesday, April 21, 2021. The survey requires approximately 15 minutes to complete, and responses are anonymous.

See the email delivered to all instructional and adjunct faculty for the survey link

Responses will be synthesized, reported back to ITS leadership, and communicated back to Mason faculty.

Thank you in advance for taking the time to complete the survey. This initiative would not be possible without the faculty community’s input.

Effective Monday, February 22, Information Technology Services (ITS) is increasing the “Remember Me” function, the number of days your device will remember your authentication, in Duo Two-Factor Authentication (2FA).

To stay logged in to your account, check the “Remember me for 14 days” box during your initial authentication. After you successfully log in, you will not be asked for a second factor for 14 days when using the same browser on your authenticated device.

You should only use the “Remember me” feature on devices you use regularly and trust. It should never be used on a public or shared computer.

Additional information is available at Remember Me For 14 Days Function. If you have questions regarding 2FA at Mason, contact the ITS Support Center at 703-993-8870 or [email protected].

In observance of Martin Luther King Day, the ITS Support Center will close at 5 p.m. on Friday, January 15 and will re-open on Tuesday, January 19 at 8:00 a.m. If you have an emergency while the ITS Support Center is closed, please call 703-993-8870 and listen to the prompts to be connected to a representative. Up-to-date information regarding alerts can be found at its.gmu.edu/alerts/.