News

What is happening? It will no longer be possible to log on to the University’s wireless network (eduroam) using an “@edu.uwaterloo.ca” email address. (Note, @edu.uwaterloo.ca addresses were converted to @uwaterloo.ca addresses in April 2020.)

When will this change take place? Monday, March 1, 2021.

What is the impact? After this date, the only acceptable login for the wireless network will be the individual’s username (up to 8 characters) followed by “@uwaterloo.ca”, e.g. d17hende@uwaterloo.ca

Questions or concerns? Please contact the IST Service desk, helpdesk@uwaterloo.ca. 

What is happening? We will be testing the University’s campus-wide emergency communication system.

When is this happening? Tuesday, February 23 at 2:00 p.m.                                             

What is the impact? Emergency communication channels being tested include:

What is happening? Webex users may have received the email below from webex_comm@webex.com. This is a legitimate email from Webex. No user action is required for UW Webex users.

Why is this happening? The Webex system is trying to clear up inconsistencies between users logging in withfriendly email addresses (e.g. firstname.lastname@uwaterloo.ca) instead of username@uwaterloo.ca.

Questions or concerns? Please contact the IST Service Desk, helpdesk@uwaterloo.ca or ext. 44357.

What is happening? During the fall 2020 term, some common IT service requests previously managed through Request Tracker (RT) were processed using the new Jira Service Management tool. This work has gone well and IST will begin moving additional RT queues (e.g., Network Services) to Jira Service Management (JSM).

What is the impact?

• Individuals may now see links to Jira Service Management forms from the IST Service Catalogue. 
• Support ticket notifications for Jira Service Management requests will come from jira@uwaterloo.atlassian.net instead of rt@rt.uwaterloo.ca.
• New support request forms have been created for some specific services:
  • Adding devices to the Wi-Fi Allow List
  • Service Catalogue Feedback
  • Atlassian Requests
  • New Mailing Lists
  • Teams Live Event Support / Request
  • Qualtrics
  • Knowledge Base Update / Change
• Individuals will be able to access these new forms and/or view their submitted tickets via the Jira Service Management Portal, https://uwaterloo.atlassian.net/servicedesk/customer/portal/2.

Ready to try Jira Service Management? Submit a request to migrate your own RT queue to JSM, https://uwaterloo.atlassian.net/servicedesk/customer/portal/2/group/54/create/245. 

Additional resources: Visit our Jira Service Management website to learn more about this service and look for more information on a JSM pilot IST will be launching during the upcoming spring term. 

Questions or concerns? Please contact the IST Service Desk, helpdesk@uwaterloo.ca, ext. 44357.

What is happening? Single sign-on certificates for Webex will be updated.

When is this happening? Wednesday February 17 from 8:00-9:00 a.m.

What is the impact? Attendees and hosts logged in to Webex before and during the maintenance window may experience intermittent service issues. Users may need to log back in after the maintenance window. 

Questions or concerns? Please contact the IST Service Desk, helpdesk@uwaterloo.ca or 519-888-4567 ext. 44357.

What is happening? The email below was sent to University of Waterloo members this morning. If you have received this email, do not click any links and do not reply.

What should I do if I have received this email? Suspected fraud attempts should be reported to the Security Operations Centre at soc@uwaterloo.ca. Reports of successful fraud should be directed to UW Police Services at uwpolice@uwaterloo.ca.

How do I know if an email I received is a phishing scam? 

• Hover over links - the real link address will appear at the bottom of your web browser window.
• Look for typos - phishing emails often contain typos and bad grammar.  
• Verify with the real source - if you receive a suspicious email supposedly sent by your manager or another department, find their actual contact information and reach out to them directly.

Learn more about cyber security best practices: https://uwaterloo.ca/cyber-awareness/

Questions or concerns? Contact the IST Service Desk, helpdesk@uwaterloo.ca or ext. 44357.

What is happening? Updated versions of the WatSAFE Desktop Notification tool, for both Windows and Mac, are now available. 

What do users need to do? 

• If your machine is managed by IST, the new Windows client will be made available through SCCM.
• If your machine is not managed, please see the appropriate IST knowledge base article for steps on downloading and installing the new client:
  • Windows client
  • Mac client
• Moving forward, both the Windows and Mac clients will automatically update.

Managed machines outside of IST: If you are responsible for managing a group of Windows or Mac machines, you may request a package-based deployment version via Request Tracker (RT), https://rt.uwaterloo.ca/SelfService/Forms/IST-General/.  

Questions or concerns? Please contact the IST Service Desk, helpdesk@uwaterloo.ca.

What is happening? The IST Knowledge Base will be consolidated and accessible at https://uwaterloo.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/ISTKB/. The on-prem Knowledge Base will no longer be available as of Monday, February 8.

Why is this happening? Content in the on-prem IST Knowledge Base has not been updated since the Knowledge Base migrated to Confluence Cloud in November 2020. All up-to-date content can be accessed at https://uwaterloo.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/ISTKB/.

What is the impact? The IST Knowledge Base will no longer be available athttps://wiki.uwaterloo.ca/. Please note this change will not affect any other Confluence spaces hosted on https://wiki.uwaterloo.ca/.

What do website content editors need to do? If you have any links to the on-prem IST Knowledge Base on your website(s), please update with new links to the cloud version of the IST Knowledge Base before February 8.

Questions or concerns? Please contact the IST Service Desk, helpdesk@uwaterloo.ca or ext. 44357.

Resolved (Jan 29, 4:30 p.m.): WCMS sites should be allowing logged in users to access sites as expected again.

• Users may need to clear all browser cache & cookies and restart their browser to fix any persisting issues.
• If you continue experiencing issues after taking these steps, please contact rt-ist-wcms@rt.uwaterloo.ca.

Questions or concerns? Please contact the IST Service Desk, helpdesk@uwaterloo.ca.

What is happening? WCMS sites are intermittently behaving as though logged in users have not logged in. IST is investigating and more information will be shared when available.

What do users need to do? IST is recommending that you minimize working on WCMS sites until the issue is resolved.

Questions or concerns? Please contact the IST Service Desk, helpdesk@uwaterloo.ca.

What is happening? As part of the Email Improvement project, the University is transitioning to a new email security vendor, Cisco, to replace the current email threat protection tool, Proofpoint, with Cisco's Email Security (CES) solution.