ICT Services 4 Education

School ICT News Bulletin No. 296 - 16/12/2021

Published by ICT Solutions

eBulletin Items

  1. IMPORTANT INFORMATION: Planned maintenance - Tuesday, December 21st, 07:00 - 09:00 hours
  2. IMPORTANT INFORMATION: IT vulnerability discovered - Apache log4j
  3. IMPORTANT INFORMATION: Google NSIX accounts - things to consider when a staff/student member leaves
  4. IMPORTANT INFORMATION: Change to Google Meet sessions - Commencing January 10th 2022
  5. IMPORTANT INFORMATION: Updata Change Freeze - December 14th 2021 to January 6th 2022
  6. IMPORTANT INFORMATION: Service Desk opening hours over the Christmas period
  7. IMPORTANT INFORMATION: Powering off core network equipment over the Christmas holiday period
  8. IMPORTANT INFORMATION: NCSC cyber security training package available

1. IMPORTANT INFORMATION: Planned maintenance - Tuesday, December 21st, 07:00 - 09:00 hours

We have been notified by of some essential infrastructure work being carried out next Tuesday morning that will impact Schools/Academies on the Updata network.

 

The work will be carried out between 07:00 and 09:00 hours and will see a temporary internet outage of up to an hour between that period.

 

We apologise in advance for any inconvenience caused.

 

For more information, please contact the Service Desk on 01603 475603 or ict@norfolk.gov.uk 

 

2. IMPORTANT INFORMATION: IT vulnerability discovered - Apache log4j

Over the weekend, a worldwide IT vulnerability was discovered in the logging function of an Apache product which the internet and internet-based services use widely.

 

https://www.ncsc.gov.uk/news/apache-log4j-vulnerability

 

Off the back of this, we are checking our internal systems, as well as reaching out to the suppliers of our services i.e. MIS, Secure data transfer, Anti-Virus, Back-ups etc. to ensure they are aware of the vulnerability and doing likewise.

 

In the meantime, we suggest that you may wish to approach any other suppliers that you use. 

 

For more information, please contact the Service Desk on 01603 475603 or ict@norfolk.gov.uk 

 

3. IMPORTANT INFORMATION: Google NSIX accounts - things to consider when a staff/student member leaves

We recently received a query concerning NSIX accounts and access to Google Classroom and Google Drive for previous staff/students and thought a general reminder to Schools might be in order. Please be aware that if a staff member or student is moving to another school which also has NSIX accounts then they will retain their Google NSIX account and access to any content which is shared with that account unless that access is removed. This includes access to any content shared via Google Drive or Classroom.

 

If you have staff/students leaving, you should consider the following - 

 

  • Are they a member of any Google Classroom?
  • What documents have you shared with them?
  • Do they hold any documents that you require access to before the account is potentially deleted?
  • Are they someone who receives your e-safety alerts?

 

If you send us tab files you need to send in a new set each time there is a change to your staff/student records in your MIS to ensure the data held is correct and up to date. 

 

For more information, please contact the Service Desk on 01603 475603 or ict@norfolk.gov.uk 

4. IMPORTANT INFORMATION: Change to Google Meet sessions - Commencing January 10th 2022

Commencing January 10th 2022, Google will remove the ability to record Google Meet sessions, as you can at present. This feature has always been a premium feature but was enabled to all customers back in Spring 2020 to help schools/academies transition to learning remotely. This process will take a few weeks to complete but we wanted to notify users in advance of it taking place. 

 

Previously recorded Meets will remain in the Drive account of the user who recorded them unless they have chosen to delete them. 

 

If you wish to discuss upgrading your Google Workspace with ourselves we can advise on whether the Google Workspace for Education Plus or Teaching and Learning Upgrade would be suitable. There would be an additional cost to upgrade. 

 

For more information, please contact the Service Desk on 01603 475603 or ict@norfolk.gov.uk 

5. IMPORTANT INFORMATION: Updata Change Freeze - December 14th 2021 to January 6th 2022

As in previous years, we have been notified by Updata that they have introduced a change freeze from December 14th 2021 until 09:00 hours on January 6th 2022. The reason is as follows - The Christmas change freeze is in place to protect the live environment and to minimise the risk of any service interruptions during the holiday period. 

 

This applies to all customers, including Norfolk Schools. This does, regrettably, mean that any changes to be made that require any Router, Firewall, certain Netsweeper or DNS changes will be impacted. We will still raise them when they are received but would like to make you aware that they will not be actioned until after the New Year. Unfortunately, this also applies to any changes submitted but not completed by December 14th. 

 

We would like to apologise for the late notification and inconvenience this may cause. 

 

For more information, please contact the Service Desk on 01603 475603 or ict@norfolk.gov.uk 

 

 

6. IMPORTANT INFORMATION: Service Desk opening hours over the Christmas period

 

To reflect the reduced demand on the Service Desk over the Christmas holiday period, we will be changing the opening hours to reflect this.

 

Our opening hours will be as follows:

 

December 20th – 23rd - 08:30 to 16:00

December 24th - 09:00 to 12:00

December 25th – January 3rd 2022 - Closed

 

Normal opening hours of 08:00 to 16:30 will resume on Tuesday, January 4th 2022.

 

For more information, please contact the Service Desk on 01603 475603 or ict@norfolk.gov.uk

 

We would like to wish all our customers a Merry Christmas and a healthy and prosperous New Year!

 

7. IMPORTANT INFORMATION: Powering off core network equipment over the Christmas holiday period

We would like to ask schools to refrain from turning off the power to the core networking equipment over the forthcoming Christmas holiday period. Core networking equipment includes routers, switches and servers, often in a wall or floor cabinet. These devices are monitored by ourselves and Updata and turning off the power results in false alarms. This could potentially result in your school incurring a charge for an engineer visit.

 

Services Affected:                           Schools Internet, email and any service accessed via the internet

 

Services Not Affected:                    All other school systems which do not access the internet

 

When:                                               17th December 2021 -  4th January 2022

 

What You Need To Do:

If there is no alternative to powering off the communications cabinet and core equipment then please contact the Service Desk to advise us in advance

 

For More Information:

Please contact the Service Desk on 01603 475603 or ict@norfolk.gov.uk

8. IMPORTANT INFORMATION: NCSC cyber security training package available

If you are planning on holding any training days in the near future or wish to promote to your staff, this is a reminder that the NCSC (National Cyber Security Centre) have made a free cyber security training package available and it can be accessed here

 

With cyber security threats faced by Educational establishments on the increase, this will help raise staff awareness and help deal with such threats.

 

For more information please contact the Service Desk on 01603 475603 or ict@norfolk.gov.uk 

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