The Circuit Board - Q1 (October 2022 Issue)

BREAKING NEW GROUND

A TRI-UNIVERSITY NSF FUNDED GRANT PROJECT

DISCOVER, or Distributed Sensing & Computing Over Sparse Environments, is an NSF-funded grant project spanning three universities and states, with over 20 constituents involved in making this project come to life. Here at NAU, ITS’ IoT Team supports the DISCOVER project under the direction of Dr. Paul Flikkema. The DISCOVER project aims to create ‘field sites’ to test IoT devices and networks in remote and rural areas.

These field sites and the experiment data will be provided to researchers to study how IoT devices and networks operate in desolate and challenging terrains. With this infrastructure in place, researchers will be able to develop strategies and methods that will assist with the detection and response to an environmental or civil disaster. The DISCOVER project is a three-year project, with the first-year milestone passing recently with a live experiment demonstration to the National Science Foundation, serving as a project update. The experiment is a demonstration showing the use of these technologies in a rural se ing.

A Leo Terrestrial Rover

“This [experiment] is a demonstration of technology, an exercise in programmatic automation.”

The Leo Rovers in position at the NAU core site

Duane Booher, Manager, Systems/Infrastructure Administration

Information Technology Services

The demonstration consists of two Leo Terrestrial Rovers, one that leads, and another that follows. The lead rover carries an AR Tag on board, and the other rover is programmed to follow the AR Tag. The rovers also use computer sight to navigate within a boundary of bright orange turf paint, (pictured to the le ) and a empt to complete a circle inside the boundary. There are many unique challenges that the team faces while preparing for this experiment. On one occasion, the rovers had a hard time ‘seeing’ the orange turf paint due to an uneven contrast caused by the shadows cast by the trees through the sunlight. However troublesome, these challenges are important for the team to face, as they will be er understand the intricacies of working with these devices in rural environments, and in turn will enable the team to provide be er data to researchers who hope to tackle the same problems.

Cody Beck (le ) and Jacob Hagan (right) prepare to run code on the rovers

ITS’ Duane Booher with a Leo Rover

The NAU Core Site was completed this past spring after an extensive process of development, surveying, trenching, and installing the conduits and wiring. The site is located directly behind the Information Technology Services building, which provides quick access from both the ITS IoT lab, as well as the SICCS lab. The site consists of 11 stationary nodes equipped with 110 volts of electricity and Ethernet connectivity to a Wi-Fi access point. The other site in Northern Arizona is located at the Historic Hat Ranch just outside of Williams, where ITS has already established a dedicated microwave link with 30 Mb/s up and 100 Mb/s down. ITS is also planning additional infrastructure at this location, with a small tower and network access in the planning stages.

The DISCOVER project involves two other universities; Navajo Technical University located in New Mexico, as well as Clemson University located in South Carolina. Currently, the other universities are in different areas of the project, with Clemson University currently testing drones in a similar manner. Back at NAU for the one-year update for the NSF, so ware systems engineer Jacob Hagan and student Cody Beck rehearse and run through the experiment alongside ITS’ Duane Booher. It is apparent how intricate this project is, the nuances and a ention to detail shine through as the team examines all variables that may affect the results of their experiment. However, the NAU team isn’t just these three, the full team at NAU contains 15 members, which includes staff, faculty, and students.

Jacob Hagan in the SICCS Lab

One of the stationary notes with a Wi-Fi access point

JacksCard For Your Mobile Device

NAU is proud to announce that JacksCard for your IOS or Android device is now available for full-time faculty and staff who primarily work on the Flagstaff Mountain campus. You can use your JacksCard on your mobile device in the exact same way that you would use your physical card— Campus Recreation, dining, access to buildings, and more. To add your JacksCard to your mobile device, you can view tutorials from NAUgo for se ing up your card on IOS and Android. To learn more or to download NAUgo, visit the NAUgo website. NAU is constantly working to provide JacksCard for mobile devices to more groups, stay tuned for more updates about JacksCard for your mobile device!

It is important to note that for the sa ey of the campus community, once a user provisions their JacksCard to their mobile device, their physical card will be rendered invalid and unusable.

Adobe Single Sign-on

NAU ITS is currently working on migrating users with NAU Adobe accounts into an enterprise log in system, which is more commonly known as Single Sign-on, or SSO. This project aims to make user’s experience logging into Adobe products more convenient and secure by using your NAU credentials to log in— similar to how a user would log in to their NAU Zoom, or Google account.

This is an ongoing project that ITS is continuously working on, and implementing. If you are an Adobe user and have not yet been migrated, keep an eye out for an email from ITS with instructions on how to ensure a successful migration.

Many months in the making, NAU ITS rolled out new password policies for the university this past August. With this change, anyone that owns a NAU account will no longer be required to intermi ently

their password every 90 days.

This project is thanks to a joint effort spanning multiple departments in ITS, starting with the implementation of Two-Step Verification last fall, and this year rolling out NAU’s new password requirements to ensure maximum cyber-defenses against malicious entities.

To maintain vigorous cybersecurity practices, all NAU accounts must meet two minimum standards moving forward; enrolled in DUO Two-Step Verification, as well as the user’s new password must meet ITS‘ new password parameters. ITS does not advertise password requirements publicly for security purposes, but when a user creates a new password, they will prompted to adhere to the appropriate character length, diversity, and other factors that go into ITS’ password infrastructure.

Enhanced 911 Calling on Campus

E911, or Enhanced 911 is an expanded version of 911 calling that allows for location data of a caller to be sent to the responding call center to be er locate and help individuals who are calling 911. NAU Emergency Services will be able to receive location information for the NAU-managed phone systems based upon network information that is assigned to the phone.

All NAU Campus phones are equipped with 988 calling capabilities, meaning that users can call or text 988 for immediate mental health assistance

24/7. This includes analog phones, as well as VOIP calling. For more information about 988, visit samhsa.gov

Microsoft Skills Initiative

The Microso Enterprise Skills Initiative, or ESI supports both current, as well as aspiring IT professionals looking to improve or refine their skillset on the Azure cloud platform in a flexible, efficient, and secure environment. For more information about ESI and how to get started, join ITS’ ESI Community.

joke of the

GOOGLE STORAGE CAP

AN

OF

What’s Happening?

This year, Google unexpectedly changed their practices regarding the cost and availability of G-Suite for Education, now known as ‘Google Workplace for Education’ which is no longer free for organizations to use. NAU ITS has navigated and adapted to this change in policy, and has decided to continue to provide the G-Suite applications to our NAU community, with a 25-gigabyte storage cap on all NAU Accounts. This includes all students, faculty, and staff. Starting January 1st of 2023, the 25-gigabyte storage cap will go into effect.

What do I need to do?

If you currently use less than 25 gigabytes across your NAU Google Account, you won’t have to worry about this change, however, it is important that you consistently monitor your storage usage to ensure that you are staying below the 25-gigabyte storage cap. If you are currently using 25 or more gigabytes of storage, you will be required to reduce the amount of storage by removing files or by transferring data over to an alternative storage provider before January 1st.

Where can I learn more?

You can keep up-to-date with this project by visiting ITS’ Project Website. This website will be constantly updated with the most recent developments regarding the upcoming storage cap. More communications will be delivered to the campus community in the upcoming months. Keep an eye out for subsequent emails that include more information and resources.

Changes to Google Storage at NAU

Microsoft

Microsoft OneDrive

All NAU students, faculty, and staff have access to 1 TB (1000 gigabytes) of storage in Microsoft OneDrive. To learn more about OneDrive, click the link below.

NATIONAL

AWARENESS MONTH 2022

Since 2004, the United States has championed awareness and education of cybersecurity during the month of October. This observance is commonly referred to nowadays as National Cybersecurity Awareness Month, or NCSAM for short. With cyber threats on the rise, NAU ITS aims to educate the campus community on the importance of strong cyber security practices.

By partnering with renowned organizations, such as the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), ITS is spreading the word to the campus this year to ‘See yourself in cyber”. O en times, people’s perception of cybersecurity can be of a highly complex and convoluted field; something that only experienced IT workers can understand and participate in. However, most people working in information security will tell you that this is quite the contrary. Anyone who uses technology is susceptible to cyber a acks, and should maintain formidable cybersecurity defenses with their technology. “See yourself in cyber” encourages the average person to bulk up their cybersecurity practices, while educating them on the importance of cybersecurity, and how it can have a real, tangible effect on their lives.

Frequently, college students (and even their professors!) don't immediately recognize the potential dangers of ineffective cyber defenses. ITS is striving to increase awareness on how cyber threats can affect your daily life here at NAU. You can keep up-to-date with ITS’ Informational NCSAM content on our social media pages (@nauits on all popular platforms). There you’ll find helpful information regarding password security, how to keep your personal devices updated to the latest and most secure firmware, how to spot and report a phish, and much more.

ITS’ Information Security Team is hosting several webinars during the month of October that aim to provide the NAU community with resources and practices that will help protect your personal information, finances, and much more. ‘Cybersecurity and You, Protecting Your Tomorrow’ exhibits how cyber threats and cybersecurity is an ever-changing ba le, and how you can protect your assets using extremely easy, and simple cybersecurity practices. ‘Data Classification and CIA Triad’ homes in on the practices everybody should implement when working with institutional and sensitive data.

Register for a Webinar!

Cybersecurity and You, Protecting your Tomorrow

October 27 | 2:05 PM

Just as the weather, stocks, and gas prices are constantly changing and unpredictable, so is the realm of cybersecurity. Come learn about the changing landscape of cyber a acks and the steps you can take to help protect your future. Even through the use of common and basic practices, you can help protect your tomorrow.

Data Classification and CIA Triad

October 25 | 10:05 AM

How should you be protecting the data you work with every day? Come to this session to learn how the NAU ITS security team strives to protect and educate all of our users when working with University data. We will share some of the best practices that we utilize on campus that you too can use at home to protect your personal information as well.

October 27 | 2:05 PM

October 25 | 10:05 AM

Quarter one started off with quite the ‘bang’. Computer Purchasing received upwards of 331 orders, containing 865 computers and 940 peripherals.

The trends still exhibit that the NAU campus community continues to purchase roughly 80 percent Windows-based computers, and 20 percent Apple computers. For the first time, Windows laptops have now overtaken Windows desktop purchases. Apple Laptop dominance has continued to rise getting close to almost 70 percent of all Apple purchases for Faculty and Staff.”

Tom Cislo

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@nauits

The Circuit Board

‘The Circuit Board’ is the NAU Information Technology Services (NAU ITS) quarterly newsle er and magazine. The Circuit Board aims to inform and educate the campus community about the vital work that ITS does for the university.

The Circuit Board is put out from the ITS Communications team. If you’d like to unsubscribe from The Circuit Board, send an email to its.communications@nau.edu to be removed from the mailing list. If you would like you or your team’s work included in the next issue of The Circuit Board, send an email to joseph.salmon@nau.edu or by emailing its.communications@nau.edu

The Circuit Board