We communicated with you in early April that ITS was pursuing strategies to reduce risks to university desktops.  At that time, we moved to block traffic from Digital Ocean, a hosting provider that was frequently a source of attacks targeting UConn.

Since then, we have been reviewing software used by IT staff to remotely access and troubleshoot client computers.  This is and will remain an essential activity, but some of the products, such as VNC, LogMeIn, Teamviewer, are also used by attackers to fraudulently gain access to systems and data.  This poses a risk to our community and the institution, and at the end of June, we will be restricting access to these tools.  Staff will still be able to provide support using other applications, such as Webex, Teams, and Quick Assist.  We are also collaborating with UConn IT partners on a pilot of an industry-leading remote access solution.  It has shown significant promise, and we anticipate it will be broadly available later this summer.

ITS is committed to improving the safety and security of IT assets at the university as well as ensuring that staff are well situated to provide effective on-site and remote support to the community.  We believe the previous and pending changes will facilitate both.

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