UW-IT News

A significantly enhanced registration tool is now streamlining how University of Washington students register for classes.

This message was sent to all University of Washington (UW) students, faculty and staff and UW Medicine employees.  

Husky Community, 

October is National Cybersecurity Awareness Month (NCSAM), a time to raise awareness about the importance of cybersecurity and share resources to help keep you and our entire UW organization digitally secure. This year, the Office of Information Security (OIS) and UW Medicine Security are focusing our efforts on four themes: Data Classification, Artificial Intelligence, Ransomware Resilience, and Cyber Hygiene. 

Throughout October, we are providing online presentations, in-person events, and informational materials to enhance awareness and promote conversation about these topics. Security and privacy tips, informational materials, and a schedule of events can be found at the NCSAM IT Connect page. 

We all play a role in protecting personal and institutional data and promoting a culture of cybersecurity at the University of Washington. We consider everyone who utilizes our systems to be a member of our information security organization. This October and throughout the academic year, OIS wants you to keep the following cybersecurity tips in mind:  

• Recognize Phishing Scams: Be suspicious of emails with unsolicited job opportunities, offers of financial aid, or requests to purchase gift cards. Don’t click on links or download attachments from unverified sources. Never provide personal information, like passwords or credit card numbers, over email or via texting services like Telegram or WhatsApp. 

• Unique Passwords and Multifactor Authentication: Never use your NetID password for another account and be sure to use multifactor authentication for personal accounts like your bank or social media. 

• Use eduroam Wi-Fi: Use eduroam, a free, encrypted Wi-Fi network, when you’re on campus. For instructions on how to set up eduroam on your device, check out the eduroam page on IT Connect. 

• Connect to Husky OnNet at Home: Husky OnNet is a virtual private network (VPN) that helps secure your home Wi-Fi network when you are remotely accessing resources on the UW network. Visit the Husky OnNet page to learn how to install and set up the software. 

• Protect Institutional Data: Learn what types of data you are responsible for, take the necessary steps to secure that data – including encrypting laptops and devices – and ensure it is backed up properly. Learn more about data types and privacy responsibilities by visiting the IT Connect privacy guide. 

• Know the Laws: State law prohibits the use of UW computing resources, tools, or services for commercial or political purposes. Follow copyright laws for software, images, music, or other intellectual property, such as books and videos. Review the Appropriate Use page on IT Connect for more information. 

This October and beyond, our teams are committed to partnering with you to protect personal data and secure UW’s institutional information.  

If you have any questions or concerns, please contact help@uw.edu. 

Thank you for helping to keep UW cyber safe, 

Isaac Straley 

UW Chief Information Security Officer 

Office of Information Security 

Augie D’Agostino 

UW Medicine Chief Information Security Officer 

Information Technology Services 

By Ignacio Lobos| UW-IT Strategic Communications

I came into the office the other day and there was no wired telephone handset on my desk.

And just like that, I had become an actor in a quiet technological revolution going on at the University of Washington and other work and study places across the globe: We are just not connecting our devices to ethernet ports as much as we used to.

Some of us have moved our UW phones to our computers, taking calls via Zoom or Teams. Others have ditched desktops for laptops and docking stations that use Wi-Fi.

At the UW, you can still find an ethernet connection at pretty much every workstation — practically all walls on all floors in all UW buildings have the ubiquitous four-port plate that connects us to the UW network and the world.

Except that now, more and more people prefer to connect via Wi-Fi. And as Wi-Fi has continued to improve — with faster connections and better security features such as encrypted communications, for example — we are moving from a wired environment to one that is mostly untethered.

Does that mean Ethernet ports are going away? Not at all, said Dave O’Meara, service owner of the wired network service in UW-IT’s Infrastructure Division.

“At UW-IT, we completely understand that there’s a steady migration to wireless, but many people in our UW community will continue to require ethernet ports for all kinds of reasons. Ethernet connections are not going away,” he said.

What’s happening is the strategic deployment and maintenance of ethernet ports across UW — replacing or modernizing those that are in use and deactivating those that are not.

Now, this is not a simple step. UW-IT, particularly its infrastructure division, pays close attention to how technologies are deployed at the UW, and it sees the migration to more wireless devices as an opportunity to save everyone some money. In this case, to the tune of about $2 million in the next two to five years.

“As we started to modernize our ethernet ports, our engineers discovered that as much as 40 percent of available ports had not been used at all in the last 12 months,” said Bin Guo, vice president of the infrastructure division.

“It costs money to touch each and every one of those ports, so it makes no sense to refresh a port that’s not being used,” she said.

For Guo, paying attention to something as small as a four-prong port signals how nothing is too small for UW-IT’s commitment to serve the UW community.

“Saving about $2 million is highly significant. But just as important is how we keep pace with technological changes,” she said. “We adapt and innovate to better support the University.”

In the meantime, the wired service team has a plan to contact all building managers in advance before any changes are made to Ethernet ports.

Building managers will have a great deal of discretion to decide which ports will remain active even if they have not been used at all in the past year.

“Our goal is to work closely with building managers to ensure their connectivity needs are being met,” O’Meara said. “If you need an ethernet connection, you got it.”

Contact UW-IT for help:

Do you want to migrate your UW Phone to Teams? Go to Teams Phone service page now.

If you have any questions about the Ethernet project or you’re a building manager who needs to get working on your connections right away, send a query to help@uw.edu with “ethernet ports” in the subject line.

UW introduces new app to support proper name pronunciation 

Text by Ignacio Lobos | UW-IT Strategic Communications 

I was at a pizza joint recently and the cashier asked for my name so they could yell it out when my slices came out of the oven.

I hesitated for an uncomfortable few seconds and I finally told her, “Just make it Tony.” She gave me a glance that I read as, “You don’t look like a Tony to me!”

OK, so I was tired and hungry, and I didn’t want to hassle with another teachable moment, so surely you can understand. And come on, Ignacio is not that hard to pronounce. Just a handful of syllables.

And yet, over the years, my name has been mispronounced countless times — Over and over, in loud bars and pizza joints, in offices, and yes, in the classroom as well. Co-workers, friends, fellow students, a stubborn boss. All guilty as charged!

So, it’s great to hear that my employer, UW Information Technology, has acquired an app that is supposed to make it easier for people like me to share the proper pronunciation of our names.

This September, Namecoach will be unveiled in Canvas, the UW’s learning management system, and it will be available for students and faculty on all campuses first.

The app lets students (and faculty) create an audio recording of their name and enter a phonetic spelling if they want. The info is then accessible by others who have permission to use Canvas. Namecoach will appear as a tab in a Canvas course.

This is a big deal for a lot of people. Names matter. They’re an integral part of our identity. When you mispronounce someone’s name on purpose or make light of it, it’s certainly a show of disrespect. Don’t just take it from me. Check out this article from my colleagues in UW Medicine, which talks about why correct name pronunciation helps people feel respected and included.

So, say it with me: Ignacio! (a decent Youtube interpretation, until I get to make my own recording in Namecoach.)

More Information: 

Easy-to-follow instructions to get your name set in Canvas.