CIO Monthly Note 11/30/2017

It’s the holiday season so you guessed it… I’m starting right out with an information security notice!

Vishing is on the Rise

You may recall that “vishing” is a term that refers to voice phishing.  Callers pretend to be someone they are not in order to gain access to your personal or financial information.  I covered this in a previous note but vishing is on the rise and there is a new technique to look out for.  Many people in recent years have stopped answering phone calls when they don’t recognize the caller ID letting the call go to voicemail.  Vishing attacks have grown wise to this and are now spoofing the caller ID so the call appears to come from a local number.  Consequently more vishing calls are being answered as people assume a local number is safer than an unknown phone number.  Here are some tips from the Federal Trade Commission:

Don’t rely on caller ID to verify who’s calling. It can be nearly impossible to tell whether the caller ID information is real. Here are a few tips for handling these calls:

• If you get a strange call from the government, hang up. If you want to check it out, visit the official (.gov) website for contact information. Government employees won’t call out of the blue to demand money or account information.
• Don’t give out — or confirm — your personal or financial information to someone who calls.
• Don’t wire moneyor send money using a reloadable card. In fact, never pay someone who calls out of the blue, even if the name or number on the caller ID looks legit.
• Feeling pressured to act immediately? Hang up. That’s a sure sign of a scam.

For more information please read the original article from the FTC.

Streamlining is good for more than Just Cost Savings

Goal 1 of the IT Master Plan focuses on consistent communication and raising awareness of IT resources.  There are many efforts underway but I wanted to highlight a couple exciting developments.  The new website that Marketing launched is not only a new look for the college but it is also responsive.  This means the website adjusts and automatically optimizes content for various screen sizes.  If you haven’t tried it already visit http://www.necc.mass.edu/ on your smart phone and you’ll find a different look than you see on your computer.

Why is this important?  The info-graphic below is from a recent presentation by EAB on campus.  It echoes the data we have been seeing from Educause in the last two years and adds to it with how much time millennials spend on smart phones.

In addition according to PEW Research text messages have a 98% open rate while email has a 20% open rate and 90% of all text messages are read in less than three minutes from when they were sent.

What are we doing about all of this mobile use?

The college has expanded use of text messaging from emergency use with Regroup to utilizing Signal Vine (two-way texting) in Student Support Services.  Two-way texting is another tool to help us keep in touch with students, keep them on track and feel more a part of the campus.

We have been investigating CRM (customer resource management) systems when EAB stood out literally as a sole-source provider of much more than just a CRM.  With 81+ partner institutions in 19 states, EAB helps our members reduce attrition, communicate more effectively with students, and streamline the path to completion leading to an expected 3% gain in retention and 3.5% gain in persistence.

It’s not just about the numbers although the increased enrollment sounds great!  This student success management system infuses mobile technology and streamlined pathways which work better for our community colleges students and their mobile technology habits.

If you’d like to learn more please send me an email.  I can send you materials and be sure you are included in the additional demonstrations that will be scheduled in the coming months as we continue our research.

IT Master Plan Progress Report

The master plan is currently available online on our FacStaff website.

If you would like to learn more about the progress being made this academic year please attend an IT Committee meeting or stay tuned for the new ITS website which will launch during the winter break.

As always if you have any questions or would like to get involved in IT planning at the college please send me an email or connect with the chairs of the IT Committee, Lori Heymans (lheymans@necc.mass.edu) and Cherie Hagen (chagen@necc.mass.edu).

Thank you,

Jeff