IT Newslett for Staff

for Staff

Oct 2017

Technical upgrades for MeL was completed successfully on 20 Sep 2017.

Look out for the new logout screen and sign out features below.

New MeL feature – Logout Screen

When you log out from MeL, you will be redirected to Logout screen.

Please click on the “End SSO Session” button to ensure that you log off from MeL session completely.

Otherwise, you may encounter issues logging into MeL subsequently.

Should you encounter “Sign On Error!” when logging into MeL, you can try to

a) Logout from

https://login.microsoftonline.com to

clear any active session.

b) Clear your browser’s cache and try to

re-login to MeL.

You may refer to the following link on how to clear your browser’s cache:

http://www.refreshyourcache.com/en/home/

Please contact Support@np.edu.sg if you still encounter similar issue after following the steps.

eMail Security Enhancement - Postmaster

NP’s email system will hold back suspected spam emails in the server and send notification email to the Staff for further action. You will receive email from do-not-reply@np.edu.sg with the subject "[Postmaster] Messages on hold for abc1@np.edu.sg"

The actions listed in the notification email are as below:-

Release - The system would forward the mail to your inbox only for this time. You will be prompted again via notification email when the Sender sends again.
Block - The system will permanently discard all emails from this Sender.
Permit - The system will always deliver all emails from this sender to your mailbox. No further prompting.

By choosing the appropriate action, you will be able to control unknown or suspicious emails from going to your mailbox.

Sample spam notification email from NP’s email system:

Reminder: Phishing Email

NP experienced a recent spate of phishing emails sent to colleagues, and purported to be from our senior management. Phishing emails cannot be fully prevented as new malicious sites appear on the Internet all the time.

Be watchful for tell-tale signs and do not follow the instructions in the phishing email.

Tell-tale signs

The email is from an email address with variations on our NP email domain.
For example:
@np.edu.uni.sg
@np.edu.ac.sg
@np-edu.sg
@np.education.sg

The email seems accidental, e.g. blank body text. It could be testing the existence of your mail boxes. Do not reply to these if the sender is unknown.
The email asks for sensitive information like login names, passwords and credit card information.
The email provides a link to a webpage that prompts for sensitive information.
The email offers you a deal you cannot resist. It could be a start to trick you into transferring funds or providing sensitive information.
The email entices you to visit an unknown webpage. All it takes to infect your notebook is one click on the link.

What to do with phishing email

Do Not Follow the instructions in the email.
Do Not Provide your personal details such as name, NRIC number, contact information, bank account or credit card number to the sender.
Do Not Click on link(s) or open file attachment(s) in the email as the content may be malicious.
Do Change your password immediately if you have accidentally clicked on the link(s) in the email and input your credentials on the website.
Do Report phishing emails to ITSecurityManager@np.edu.sg or Support@np.edu.sg for further investigation.
Do Delete the phishing email after investigation.

Adobe Flash EOL by end 2020

Adobe plans to end support and distribution of Flash and Flash Player by the end of 2020.In other words, there will be NOT be any security patches, maintenance of OS and browser compatibility after 2020.

Before end 2020, schools and depts will need to:

Identify and replace Adobe Flash applications with open standards such as HTML5, WebGL and WebAssembly.
Plan and schedule the removal of Adobe Flash plugins from webpages under your maintenance.

More information available:

https://blogs.adobe.com/conversations/2017/07/adobe-flash-update.html

https://www.cvedetails.com/product/6761/Adobe-Flash-Player.html?vendor_id=53

Bluetooth Vulnerability – Switch off Device’s Bluetooth when NOT in-use

Recently, a Bluetooth vulnerability – Blueborne, was reported that it could potentially expose millions of devices to remote attack. Blueborne allows attackers to gain access to your device (PC, mobile phone, IoT device etc.) via Bluetooth connection.

However, Blueborne can only target devices within range of the hackers, and only devices with Bluetooth turned on.

The simplest protection is to switch Bluetooth off when not in-use.

CCleaner Malware Hack

CCleaner is a popular utility software that is widely downloaded and installed to clean potentially unwanted files or invalid programs entries.

Hackers have successfully breached CCleaner’s security to inject malicious codes into the app and distribute it to millions of users. The code allows hackers to download and execute other malicious software (ransomware, keylogger, PC viruses etc) in your computer.

If you have installed this CCleaner software previously on NICE notebook, please drop by the IT Helpdesk to uninstall the software.

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