Incidents

Office Issues Due to Microsoft Update

November 13th, 2015 in Featured, Incidents, Service Outage.

On 11/11, Microsoft released a Windows Security Update (KB3097877) that has caused connection issues between Outlook clients and the Exchange server, often resulting in an application crash. This has also been observed to affect other Office applications such as PowerPoint, Word, and Excel. If you are experiencing similar issues, please follow the instructions below:

  1. Click the Start icon or press the Windows key on your Keyboard
  2. Type "Windows Update" (without quotations) and click Windows Update
  3. If you see the message "1 important update is available", click on "Install updates". Let the installation run (this could take up to 10 minutes) and restart your computer when prompted by that window. Once you log back in, the issues should be resolved.
  4. If you do not see this message, click "View update history" in the left panel.
  5. In the top right, click on "Installed Updates"
  6. In the top right corner, in the "Search Installed Updates" field, type KB3097877 and hit enter
  7. Right click on update listed ("Security Update for Microsoft Windows KB3097877") and select uninstall. Click yes when prompted.
  8. Let the uninstallation process run, and restart your computer when prompted.
  9. When you log back in, open up the Windows Update window again and select "Check for updates" in the left side-panel
  10. This check could take several minutes. Please be patient. When the check is complete, you should see the message "1 important update is available". Click "Install updates" and let the installation process run.
  11. Restart your computer when prompted. Once you log back in, the issue should be resolved.

If you experience any issues, please feel free to contact our help desk at 617-638-5914 and one of our staff members can assist you.

Resolved – Echo360 Classroom Recording Service is unavailable

October 31st, 2014 in Incidents, News, Service Outage.

IS&T teams have resolved the incident with vendor assistance.

Please note: The feature used for scheduling recordings remains unavailable while IS&T teams and the vendor are determining the root cause of this issue.

Echo360 service is intermittently degraded or unavailable. Clients will be unable to schedule recordings and may have difficulty viewing existing recordings.  Please check TechWeb for updates.

Punchout catalogs in SRM cannot be used in Firefox 16

October 17th, 2012 in BUworks, Incidents, News.

To BUworks Shoppers and Approvers:

It was recently discovered that punchout catalogs are not functioning properly when accessed through Firefox 16 (released on October 9). You will be able to get to the punchout catalogs and put items in your cart. However, when you attempt to purchase them, you will get a blank screen. Firefox15 (and prior versions) still work correctly.

Until Firefox releases an update that solves the problem, we are recommending that Windows users shop with Internet Explorer. Alternatively, instructions are provided so that Windows users can revert to version 15. Unfortunately, all Mac users must revert to Firefox 15 since Safari and other browsers are not supported by BUworks.

The affected punchout catalogs in SRM include:

  • Airgas
  • Bio-Rad Laboratories
  • Fisher Scientific
  • Grainger
  • Qiagen
  • Office Depot (which is limited to only a select number of users)
  • SHI International Corp
  • Sigma

If you have any questions, or any problem downgrading to an earlier version of Firefox, please feel free to contact us.

New Version of the AnyConnect VPN Client

October 15th, 2012 in Incidents, News.

On Wednesday, October 3, 2012, a new version of the Cisco AnyConnect client was deployed. You should get this update automatically when first connecting to http://work2.bumc.bu.edu after this date.

This new version of the Cisco AnyConnect client was deployed in order to:
• Resolve several major bugs and conflicts with various desktop operating systems
• Provide reliable support for both Windows and Macintosh
• Provide new functions and features, including support for Android clients
• Patch identified critical security vulnerabilities
• Keep clients in a vendor-supported version
• Address an expired vendor signed certificate with the older client installation bundle

With the update, the name changed from "Cisco AnyConnect" to "Cisco AnyConnect Secure Mobility Client." Unfortunately, this name change will cause any existing shortcuts to stop working. If you have had trouble connecting to the VPN after October 3, you should delete any shortcuts in use and start fresh by connecting to http://work2.bumc.bu.edu. We apologize for any inconvenience.

At this time we are unaware of any other issues related to this upgrade. However, additional information on this release is provided by Cisco. Please feel free to contact the IT Help Center (617-353-4357 or ithelp@bu.edu) or BUMC IT (617-638-5914 or bumchelp@bu.edu) if you have any problems or questions.

Resolved: Crosstown Building Phone System is Temporarily Down

September 25th, 2012 in Incidents.

Incident Discovery Time: 08:30am on 9/25/2012
Incident Resolution Time: 09:30am on 9/25/2012
Services Impacted: Phone system- Crosstown Building

Description of Impact

The phone system in the Crosstown Building (801 Massachusetts Ave.) is currently down

Current Status

Phone system in Crosstown Building is back up and running. If  you are located in the Crosstown Building and continue to experience issues, contact Telecom at 638-6890.

Resolved: Undeliverable Mail to BMC Email Addresses

September 21st, 2012 in Incidents.

Incident Discovery Time: 9:00am on 09/21/2012
Incident Resolution Time: 11:19am on 9/21/2012
Services Impacted: Email

Description of Impact

Clients receive "Undelivered Mail Returned to Sender" when sending email to @bmc.org or BU email addresses that forward to BMC

Incident Description and Resolution

BMC IT has resolved the incident.

If you continue to have issues, please contact the Service Desk.

Workaround for UIS Issue in Firefox

April 4th, 2012 in Incidents, News.

UIS will not work if you have any Java version after v23 installed. Recently, Firefox blocked the use of the old Java plugin and many users have recently been experiencing issues accessing UIS in Firefox.

If you have the most up-to-date version of Firefox and cannot access UIS, you can follow the instructions below to workaround this issue:

  1. Go to https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/ie-tab/
  2. Click “Add to Firefox” and wait for the file to download.
  3. Click “Install Now” (it might take a couple minutes for Install Now to show up)
    install
  4. Click the button to restart Firefox
    restart
  5. Right click anywhere in empty space in the bar where your webpage tabs are and click “Customize”
  6. Scroll down until you see “IE tab.”
    ietab
  7. Click the IE Tab and drag it up next to your address bar.
    drag
  8. Click the IE Tab icon every time you go on UIS in Firefox and it will display UIS in an IE tab.

If you have any questions, please contact the Service Desk at (617) 638-5914 or bumchelp@bu.edu.

UPDATE: Symantec Releases Patch for pcAnywhere

February 2nd, 2012 in Incidents, Information Security, News.

Last week, Symantec said it was unable to predict when it would complete its patching of pcAnywhere, citing the unpredictability of its investigation and the creation of the necessary fixes.  However, they have now released an update that addresses the security issues we reported earlier this week.  We therefore will not be implementing an inbound filter to 5631/TCP, 5632/UDP on Sunday 2/5 as previously mentioned.

The updates can be manually downloaded from Symantec's website, or customers can use pcAnywhere's built-in updating service to retrieve and install the patches.  http://www.symantec.com/business/support/index?page=content&id=TECH179960

Modena also confirmed that customers running versions of pcAnywhere prior to version 12.0 will be offered a free upgrade to 12.5.  "If requested, Symantec will honor an update to version 12.5 for the customer.”

Warm Regards,

-IRT

Information Security Incident Response Team, Information Services & Technology
Boston University
T(617)358-1100
F(617)353-6260
irt@bu.edu