ITD Technical Support



ITD Technical Support Service Desk

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What's New

03/05/08	IMPORTANT INFORMATION FOR ALL TECHNOLOGY USERS: In 2007, Daylight Saving Time changed for the U.S. and Canada . As part of the Energy Policy Act of 2005, Daylight Saving Time (DST) has been extended by four weeks. DST starts on the second Sunday in March (9th) and will end on the first Sunday in November (2nd). Please review the complete details on the Tech Rep Page
01/04/08	NEW SELF-SERVICE PAGE IS NOW AVAILABLE: ITD has updated the SUPPORT OPTIONS available on each of its TechSupport pages. On each page, you will now see two new options listed. Self-Service & Passwords: This page contains information all our self-service options. This includes the new Customer Self-Service system. Instructions on how to register for this system and using the features on CSS are available in this section. In addition, if you need to reset your LAUSD SSO/Email password or activate your account, there is a section for that service as well. An LAUSD SSO/Email account is required in order to use the Customer Self-Service (CSS) system. Scheduled Upgrades: This page contains information on systems that have been scheduled for upgrades or maintenance. An LAUSD SSO/Email account is required in order to access this web site.
09/13/07	ITD Launches new *IT Service Catalog*. The ITD Infrastructure Group is launching a new IT Service Catalog that provides a list of currently available IT services. Each service provides guidelines for ordering/requesting the service. Click here to view the IT Service Catalog.
04/26/07	THE ITD HELP LINE HAS A NEW NAME AND PHONE NUMBER: The ITD Help Desk is now called the ITD Service Desk and is relocating to the Beaudry Building the weekend of April 28th. This will result in a higher level of service to schools and offices by increasing the available phone lines and minimizing wait times. Our new number will be 213-241-LA00 (5200). The menu selections will remain the same. Click on the picture to the left with our new phone number for a listing of the menus. We have created a flyer to announce the changes. Please make copies of these flyers for distribution to all your staff members. Service Desk Flyer
02/13/07	TECHREP PAGES HAVE NEW ITEMS: The ITD TechRep pages have new information that may be of interest to those who assist with technology as at school sites. New postings includes: A change to DST that will affect LAUSD computers A new HP Grant available to Schools A major malware issue that has caused problems on many computers Important Information on the New Microsoft Operating System ITD Help Desk created the Tech Rep Information page and listserv to provide information about District support issues; vendor information, including recalls, security issues, etc.; and meeting information on how IT usage can be optimized at your site. This page is designed with many different LAUSD people in mind: School site Technical Coordinators School site staff interested in Technology School Webmasters Other LAUSD technical staff Click Here to access the page. You can also access it directly in the future by either going to the following URL: http://techsupport.lausd.net/techrep.htm or by using the link from the page menu located on the left side of this page.
02/06/07	UPDATE ON SPAM DETECTION ISSUES: INADVERTENT MAIL FILTERING: In early January, the District upgraded its spam filtering capacity. As a part of that upgrade, SPAM rules were updated with stricter policies than were previously implemented. An unintended outcome is that an excessive number of legitimate email messages have been unintentionally filtered. The primary cause has been determined to be the addition of word filters designed to reject emails with sexual or racial content frequently associated with pornographic SPAM. District SPAM filters have blocked many explicit words for years because they frequently appear in pornographic SPAM. When the anti-spam system was updated, the word filters were updated in a manner that was overly broad, which resulted in legitimate emails being blocked because they contained words with multiple meanings that could be interpreted as sexual slang associated with SPAM. These filters have been updated to contain only words that have the highest probability of being associated with pornography with minimal probability of being legitimate email. ITD apologizes for any inconvenience associated with over-aggressive SPAM filtering, and will review word-filtering practices with District leadership to assure a proper balance between minimizing inappropriate email and minimizing disruption to legitimate email. If an email is received by the anti-spam system that is prohibited by a word list, the sender receives a message from the anti-spam system notifying him or her of the rejection. This message will be edited as soon as possible to provide an explicit explanation of why the rejection occurred, with instructions to assure the email message is transmitted correctly.
01/17/07	NOTICE TO LAUSD.NET EMAIL USERS REGARDING SPAM DETECTION: Automated SPAM detection programs may scan emails to determine their validity. If you believe you did not receive an email sent by a trustworthy source, or an email you sent was not received, please contact the ITD Help Desk using our Customer Self Service system to report this problem.
01/11/07	BTS SUPPORT: BTS has provided some documentation that can assist in a couple key areas for time keepers and others. Setting up your default printer Display Employee List Other documents can be found at the BTS Help Zone: http://btshelpzone.lausd.net/
01/11/07	SSO/E-MAIL/ISIS PASSWORD EXPIRATIONS: Many customers have reported that their accounts have stopped working recently. They later find out that this is a result of their password having expired. Please note that passwords expire 180 days after you reset them. You then get a few “grace logins” before it prevents you from being able to log into any system. Customers have reported that an e-mail reminder sent prior to the expiration was not received. We have technicians reviewing this situation and should get that resolved soon. In the meantime, if you have not reset your password in a while, it is suggested that you changed your password at this time. Use the E-MAIL/PASSWORDS link on the EMPLOYEE page of LAUSD.NET to reset your password now.
10/31/06	UPDATE: HIGH PRIORITY INTERNET EXPLORER 7 WARNING! If you are a current or future Business Tools for Schools (BTS) user, DO NOT download and install the upgrade to Internet Explorer Version 7. It has been determined that this upgrade is not currently compatible with the BTS software that has been in use since July 2006. This upgrade may be sent through the normal Windows Update process. If you have your computer set to automatically download recommended updates and install them you will need to make the following changes to your Windows Update. Instructions for how to change your setting for Windows XP users are provided here. Please note: IE7 can not be installed on any Windows version before Windows XP. If you have already upgraded to IE7, instructions on how to unistall IE7 and reinstall IE6 are found here.

ITD Self-Service Options

NEW! Now ITD Customers have more options to get assistance with their issues:

You can browse the ITD Technical Support page to see if our site has the answer to your issue.
Use the Self Service options. To learn more about these options, visit our Self-Service page .

LAUSD Tech Support Security Information

Security News - For Virus Information, visit our Virus Information page

STORM MALWARE CAUSE BAD WEATHER FOR THOUSANDS OF COMPUTER USERS: As many as 300,000 computers may have been infected with malicious software that was sent in spam messages. Computerworld has posted an article on their web site about this major malware outbreak and information from Symantec about the e-mail message used to send it: Storm malware shapes up as worst 'weather' in years.

MICROSOFT SECURITY ADVISORY 922437 - Reprinted from the Microsoft Web Site:

Overview:
Microsoft is aware of public reports regarding an attack known as Win32/Graweg exploiting the vulnerability addressed by security update MS06-040. Microsoft’s initial investigation of Win32/Graweg verified that it only affects users running Windows 2000 that have not applied the update detailed in MS06-040. Microsoft has activated it’s emergency response process and is continuing to investigate this issue.

The Microsoft Security Response Alliance partners as well as our own internal teams have determined that we are not currently aware of widespread customer impact and have rated Win32/Graweb as a Low threat. At this time it does not appear to be an autospreading internet-wide worm.

Microsoft continues to recommend that customers apply the updates to the affected products by enabling the Automatic Updates feature in Windows or using their deployment infrastructure in their enterprise or small business.

Customers who believe that they are infected or are not sure whether they are infected by Win32/Graweb should visit Safety.live.com and choose "Protection Scan" or run the latest version of the Malicious Software Removal Tool from either Microsoft Update or Windows Update to ensure that their systems are free of infection.

Customers who believe they have been attacked should contact their local FBI office or report their situation to www.ic3.gov. Customers outside the U.S. should contact the national law enforcement agency in their country.

Customers who believe they are affected can contact Product Support Services. Contact Product Support Services in North America for help with security update issues or viruses at no charge using the PC Safety line (1866-PCSAFETY) and international customers by using any method found at this location: http://support.microsoft.com/security.

Mitigating Factors:
· Customers who have installed the MS06-040 security update are not affected by this vulnerability.

· While installation of the update is the recommended action, customers who have applied the mitigations as identified in MS06-040 will have minimized their exposure and potential exploitability against an attack.

Additional Resources:

• Microsoft Security Bulletin MS06-040 - Vulnerability in Server Service Could Allow Remote Code Execution (921883): http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/bulletin/ms06-040.mspx

• MSRC Blog: http://blogs.technet.com/msrc/

Note: check the MSRC Blog periodically as new information may appear there.

Security Advisory 922437 - Exploit Code Published Affecting the Server Service can be found at the following URL: http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/advisory/922437.mspx

Keep Your Software Updated:
Over the past couple years we have seen an increasing amount of issues relating to vulnerabilities of computer software. ITD recommends that you keep ALL software on your computers updated. Information on how to do this can be found on our Software Information page. You will find links to vendor update pages for most Operating Systems and Applications used at LAUSD. This include SERVICE PACKS. (PLEASE NOTE: When downloading large updates and Service Packs from these sites, be careful to download these during non-peak times - i.e. before and after normal business hours. Also, burn these files to a CD-ROM so multiple machines can use the same file. This helps reduce the load on our Wide Area Network.)

E-MAIL: Why do I receive so much SPAM in my mailbox?
SPAM is normally sent two ways. One, if you subscribe to mail lists or other subscriptions via the Internet and use your LAUSD account, the e-mail address you provide could be shared or sold to other organizations. Also, when you sign up for something or request information on a web site, your name is also recorded in a list that can be sold or traded with other companies. Sometimes this is done intentionally (they ask if it is ok to give your information to someone else) other times they do it without your knowledge. Also, viruses can be used to collect addresses for SPAMMERS.

LAUSD has SPAM filtering on its both of its systems. SPAM is hard to filter. SPAMMERS make a living finding new ways to fool the filters. They use an e-mail address for a limited time and then switch to another. They also put up temporary mail servers or exploit other "vulnerable" ones.

You have some "local" options available. If you use an e-mail reader such as Outlook, Outlook Express, or Netscape Communicator, try using that program's filtering or "mail rules" feature to have those messages moved to a separate folder. There are some good commercial anti-spam software that are very inexpensive.

Here is one suggestion: Make sure that you delete any message that you get rather then replying or requesting to UNSUBSCRIBE. Often this encourages more spamming because they know they have a "good" address. (GOOD = A valid address and someone who takes the time to read and reply to e-mail. These draw a high price from SPAMMERS who buy lists.)

Also, on the LAUSD web site, we have a link that gives you more information about how you can help report SPAMMERS. Please follow this link to find out what you can do:
http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/edcams/chainmail/. Click on the REPORT IT link to report SPAM that you have received already. Speaking of chainmail, refrain from passing stories, jokes, and other item to other by forwarding previous e-mails. This exposes their addresses to SPAMMERS as well.

Our security group is aware of the problem and continuously examine the SPAM situation.

Beware of scams, "legends", or hoaxes you might get via e-mail:
Everyday it seems like someone is sending out an e-mail with a story or a warning. Some are innocent and just meant to shock or amuse you. Many are malicious and are trying to fool you.

For information, review the full article

Unsolicited Commercial E-Mail (Spam) or chain email scams (EMAIL FRAUD):
Chain letters that involve money or valuable items and promise big returns are illegal. Some of these letters claim they are legal or that they are endorsed by the government - Nothing is further from the truth. If you have been a target of a chain email scam please forward the message to the Federal Trade Commission at SPAM@UCE.GOV

If you receive unsolicited commercial e-mail (spam) you may report it to the Federal Trade Commission by forwarding it directly to SPAM@UCE.GOV

LAUSD E-mail Users Beware:
There appears to be a new version of an old virus that is making its way around the Internet. These types of messages intend to "fool" the recipient into believing this message is from someone of authority on their mail system.

I have been assured by our Security group that we would not send a message like this from the address and "team name" it used. We would give a specific name or would give our Help Desk information as a source to contact.

Customers can safely ignore this, and any future message of this type, unless they come from the Help Desk.

Click Here for a sample of the e-mail message.

Norton Anti-Virus Information for LAUSD Schools:
You must be connected to the LAUSD network (either directly or via an LAUSD dial-up) in order for this download to work. Employees using dial-up for network access should know that the download may take several hours. It is recommended that employees using dial-up checkout the Norton CD from the appropriate site contact.

LAUSD has negotiated a corporate license for the use of Norton Anti-virus. Please click here for details. District Employees may download this software for use on their home computers as well.

Bulletin K-24 (Rev) LAUSD Firewall Policy:
To obtain an application for a Firewall Exception request or to get more information about the LAUSD Firewall policy click here

Closure of Port 5190:
Memorandum No. K-2 August 1, 2001 Notification of Network Security Measures. To read the memorandum by click here

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