FTP Access from Off Campus

This evening at 6PM, we will be disabling FTP access to UNX1 (www.shsu.edu) from off-campus. This change is being implemented due to security concerns. As an alternate solution, you can still connect with SecureFTP using FileZilla or preferred SFTP client. This will NOT affect on-campus FTP access.

Password Expiration Time Decreasing

If you read our IR Update that is sent out to all Faculty and Staff at the beginning of each month, you will have noticed in the August 2009 edition that we will be changing the length of time for password expiration from 1 year to 180 days (6 months). Here is an excerpt from the IR Update:

PINs and Passwords

Passwords: The campus expiration for passwords has been 365 days for Windows and Macintoshes. On Nell, the expiration has been only 90 days. Auditors have alerted us that since so many administrative duties are now accessible within SamMenu and SamWeb, the Windows password expiration has to be shortened.

We know that every three months just feels too frequent, so we negotiated a compromise of 180 days.

• You can reset your password when logged in on a campus PC. Press CTRL-ALT-DEL and then Change Password.
• You can reset your password from SamWeb. Select Computer Services, then Account Password Change.
• You can reset your password in Outlook Web Access. Click Options, then Change Password.

Starting on September 1st, we are going to begin slowly working our way through accounts to implement the new password expiration policy. This will be a phased approach, so we will decrease the time by one week every week. 9/1 the expiration time will be set to 358 days. 9/8 the expiration time will be set to 351 days. 9/15 the expiration time will be set to 344 days, and so on until we reach 180 days.

Email reminders will continue to be sent during this time so that you should not be caught without notice that you need to reset your password.

SamNet Wireless

SamNet Wireless

SHSU Computer Services has completed the initial conversion of the new SamNet wireless service. This conversion was implemented to increase your wireless coverage throughout the campus and to maintain SHSU data security and integrity while it is being accessed wirelessly.

SO how can you get connected to SamNet? Just follow these simple steps:
1.) Connect to the wireless network (or establish a wireless connection)
2.) Open any web browser and authenticate to the network using your SHSU user name and password
3.) After authentication, you can browse the Internet,access the SHSU home page, SamMenu, and SamWeb without having VPN!
4.) To print to campus networked printers, you must use Remote Desktop, if the printer you are looking for is not there, please see Adding a Printer

Changes - Administrative Access & Computer Account Security

Please take notice of a couple of changes that have been made regarding temporary administrative access requests and computer account security. This information has also been posted as notices in Nell and SamMenu.

Temporary Administrative Access Policy Change:
If you require temporary administrative access to install software on to an SHSU computer, please ask your department chair for his/her approval within e-mail and then you can paste that approval into your WO request. The request should indicate what software will be loaded and it's business purpose and that your department can produce the licensing information, upon request.

Computer Account Security:
All computer accounts will activate a password-protected screensaver after 15 minutes of inactivity. This is to increase the security of your personal files as well as SHSU student, faculty, and staff records.

Update to Computer Account Security: This has been our policy for several years. However, due to recent security concerns we've taken additional measures to enhance the existing policy. Please refer to our current guidelines posted on the Computer Services website regarding the use of password-protected screensavers . Additionally, we've mentioned in several past IR updates to always use password-protected screensavers.