“Universities are increasingly falling victim to cyberattacks. In order to increase the IT security awareness of our university members, we are currently working on a comprehensive information and training programme on this topic. Together with our IT security team and with the support of the Corporate Communications service unit, we are creating training videos and quizzes that convey the topic in an entertaining and clear way,” explains Michaela Bociurko, Head of  IT Communications & Marketing.
 

Better secure than sorry 

Why is it important to raise awareness among users? Christoph Campregher, Head of the IT Security central support unit at the ZID, explains: “It can be dangerous, for example, if university members enter their u:account access data on a fraudulent website. The access data stolen in this way can be used to penetrate the IT infrastructure and cause damage.” This procedure is known as phishing (from password and fishing). But insecure passwords can also enable attacks.

Another means by which cyber criminals gain access is malware. This can be hidden in e-mail attachments, for example. Once infected, it can encrypt data unnoticed, transfer data or spy on access data. 

Financial fraud attempts via e-mail can also cause considerable damage. Well-crafted, personalised e-mails to employees of the University of Vienna are the bait. The aim is usually to transfer money to supposed superiors or work colleagues or to send them voucher cards.

“All of these attacks target members of the University of Vienna. It is therefore important for us to have users on board and to provide them with the basics of the right defensive tactics when it comes to IT security,” explains Christoph Campregher.

The Passwords Terms of Use will be updated on 21 March. The upcoming changes include:

• Newly created u:account passwords must contain at least 10 characters (instead of the previous 8 characters).
• The use of a password manager is strongly recommended.
• It is recommended to activate multi-factor authentication (MFA), if optionally available. 

Requirements for ZID passwords

Users can manage their u:account password and their Wi-Fi password themselves. ZID passwords must fulfil the following requirements:

• at least 10 characters
• at least 1 letter (a-z, A-Z) and 1 other character (number and/or special character)
• not identical to a UserID
• significantly different from other passwords (e.g. for social networks, web shops)
• is not used more than once
• is not easy to guess
• is not included in common password lists

If necessary, use the password tips for creating secure passwords.

What is a password manager?

A password manager is software that helps users to create, manage and use their individual access data. There are different technical solutions. Possible variants are

• in the browser
• installed locally
• cloud solution
• included in the operating system (such as Apple Keychain)

Information on password managers can be found on the IT security pages of the ZID.

If you have any questions, please use the Servicedesk form.

A team of experts has been supporting members of the University of Vienna in all aspects of research data management since 2022. The RDM team includes employees from the long-term archives PHAIDRA and AUSSDA, the University Library, the ZID and the faculties. It offers you: 

• Consulting via rdm@univie.ac.at
• Training and workshops 
• NEW: support with all legal matters relating to RDM
• Information materials, such as the FDM Quick Start Guides (PDF) or a planned guide for creating web pages

Training – adapted to your needs

In workshops, courses and webinars, the RDM team answers the most important questions from researchers as well as master’s and doctoral students. The team teaches you how to better manage research data, create data management plans and use repositories easily.

All dates and the possibility to register can be found on the Research Data Management website.

The RDM team also supports you with free training that is tailored to individual disciplines or questions. You can find out more about this offer under Build a Custom Workshop. Workshops can be held in different settings, in German or English and online or on site. 

Data stewards: experts at the faculties and centers

A so-called data steward currently supports 3 faculties (Faculty of Philological and Cultural Studies, Faculty of Historical and Cultural Studies, Faculty of Life Sciences) and the Centre for Microbiology and Environmental Systems Science in research data management. Consulting is tailored to the respective discipline:

• Help with optimising processes in and after research projects
• RDM training
• Support with communication and collaboration within the university’s extensive structure

Data storage: the right service for every need 

Appropriate infrastructure also helps you to store your data. Depending on whether you need to store data during or after the completion of a research project, different storage services are available to you: From online storage space and Share or the cloud storage u:cloud for short and medium-term storage to the repository PHAIDRA or the long-term storage of software source code in GitLab. You can find an overview of all options in the Research work environment under Storing data.

If you cannot find the right service, you can contact the RDM team with your requirements via rdm@univie.ac.at to initiate the joint development of new services.

What Moodle-Preview offers:

• Comprehensive information on planned changes to the learning platform via the Moodle feedback, insights & outlooks course
• Unlimited opportunity to test all new functions from the student perspective in the sample course
• Individual creation of a personal test course to get to know Moodle with your own eyes
• Submit ideas for improvements or further development of Moodle via the feedback form – either personally or anonymously 
• Possibility to ask questions about the platform via the moderated exchange forum

What's new in Moodle?

The new Moodle version has been available since 19.02.2024. The new features include:

• The course design is now more space-efficient with the help of smaller icons and less spacing between and within sections.
• The display of prerequisites on the course page can now be collapsed and expanded.
• For teachers, icons for group mode have been integrated into the individual activities and materials on the course page.
• The file format is now displayed for linked documents and files, e.g. PDF, DOC, PNG.

The e-learning team would like to thank all users for their valuable feedback and looks forward to a lively exchange on Moodle in the future.

The IT courses offered by the ZID are very extensive and include courses on the following topics:

• Data analysis and statistics
• literature management
• Office applications
• Graphics and image processing
• Audio and video editing
• Internet and web design
• Programming

There are currently still places available for many IT courses, especially for study-related software such as

• SPSS 
• Atlas.ti 
• Citavi 
• EndNote
• LaTeX

The courses in the areas of graphics and image editing as well as audio and video editing are very popular with many users. The ZID always endeavours to meet the high demand. This semester, we have once again succeeded in offering the Adobe Premiere course as an introduction to video editing. This introductory course presents a variety of professional tools for editing video material in order to be able to cut, edit and add sound to digital videos. The two-day Adobe Premiere course is offered on 2 dates on-site during the summer semester. 

The webinars on the graphics and layout tools Adobe InDesign and Adobe Illustrator are also in high demand. However, if you would like to take part, you should book quickly. There are only a few places left.

All the programs mentioned are available as application software in the computer rooms of the ZID.

If you have any questions about the IT courses of the ZID, please use the Servicedesk form IT courses of the ZID.

Information on the IT courses of the ZID can be found on the IT courses servicepage.

Until now, academic theses were submitted on a separate website via HoPla (short for: Hochschulschriftenserver – thesis server/Plagiatsprüfung – plagiarism check). HoPla has now been completely redesigned and integrated into u:space. The new application boasts a user-friendly and accessible interface and is designed to guide students step by step through the submission process.

Completed academic theses (diploma thesis, master’s thesis or doctoral thesis) are submitted in both electronic form and hard-bound. Students must submit the digital version before the bound versions in u:space under Graduation – Plagiarism check. You can only submit your thesis if topic and supervision have been approved by the study programme director (SPL).

In future, business phone users will be able to make calls in other EU countries without roaming charges. But be careful when travelling to Switzerland, the UK and all other non-EU countries: Incoming calls also incur roaming charges there. So just don't pick up the phone? That's not enough: if the voicemail box "picks up", the call is deemed to have been accepted and will be charged. The call is then roamed from abroad back to the voicemail box in Austria at a charge. So instead of one roaming call, you have two on your bill - and all because the voicemail box was not deactivated.

Business phone users will have it easy in future: from May, the voicemail box will be deactivated by default and can be switched on and off in the operator's administration app (e.g. Drei Kundenzone or Mein A1). 

Update only in Wi-Fi

Normally you always switch off your mobile data when abroad. But then you are expecting that important e-mail and there is no Wi-Fi available. Before you activate your mobile data now, you should make sure that installed apps and the operating system are only allowed to update via Wi-Fi – otherwise switching it on may trigger a flood of updates and your mobile data will be used up before the important e-mail is downloaded. On many Apple devices, for example, this can be done via Settings – General – Background update. For Android devices, the function can be accessed via the Play Store settings. It is also best to switch on data-saving mode: this prevents apps from downloading new content via the mobile network. You can then simply initiate the download of one important e-mail manually.

Be careful with data connections

Did you know that? On a ferry in the Mediterranean, you are not in the EU, but in international waters. The list price for 1 gigabit of mobile data here is up to 17,000 (in words: seventeen thousand) euros. To be on the safe side, you should also avoid using mobile data on aeroplanes or in border regions. Thanks to the EU Roaming Regulation, data connections outside the EU are automatically capped after 60 euros have been used. You must explicitly ask the operator to reactivate the connection. But here too, mobile data is usually used up before you have had a chance to work with it and it causes unnecessary additional costs.

Business phone users do not have to worry about this problem either: The ZID has blocked data usage on ferries for the new SIM cards by default.

Roaming checklist

The business phone team of the ZID recommends the following to ensure safe calling and surfing in roaming destinations:

• Deactivate data roaming, personal hotspot and voicemail box
• Restrict apps and (system) updates to Wi-Fi
• Activate data saving mode
• E-mail account: Set synchronisation to manual or select data synchronisation
• For longer stays abroad, use a dual SIM device (can hold 2 SIM cards) with a local prepaid SIM card

The new business phone service 

At the end of April, the university is changing its business phone operator. The new tariffs are cheaper, simpler and faster. Data and roaming packages are a thing of the past, as are penalties for exceeding the package limit.

Anyone who already has a business phone will be automatically assigned to one of the new tariffs by the ZID and can look forward to lower costs after switching operators. The easiest way for employees who do not yet have a business phone and can wait a little is to order the new business phone services via the Servicedesk from May, after the change of operator.

No new orders will be possible in April due to the necessary changeover work. 

You can find detailed information on the new business phone contract at the University of Vienna on the business phone service pages.

Driven by the open source idea

The PHAIDRA code has been available on GitHub since December 2023. This is a Docker version of PHAIDRA. This means that all the necessary elements are bundled in a container. As a result, users can put PHAIDRA into operation easily and in just a few steps.

Raman Ganguly explains: “PHAIDRA is a project that is intended to be supported by an entire network in the true spirit of open source. It combines the perspectives of developers and users from a wide range of areas. In this way, we ensure that current needs are recognized and covered with innovative functions in PHAIDRA.”

The network is set to grow

To ensure that PHAIDRA can continue to live up to this claim in the future, the team would like to draw the attention of potential new members to the project. Developers, decision-makers and people from the areas of open data and open science, such as librarians and managers of repositories, can find out more about PHAIDRA via new information channels:

• PHAIDRA website 
• LinkedIn presence
• Epistemicast podcast series on the topics of open science, open data and open source

In November 2024, there will be another one-day PHAIDRACon Meet-up in Vienna to share experiences within the PHAIDRA community. The date and agenda will follow in due course.

Devices in the following areas are affected by the replacement:

• University management
• Service facilities
• Computer rooms
• Class rooms
• Centrally managed lecture halls and class rooms

Why are they being replaced?

Due to the expired warranty period of 5 years, the PCs should have been replaced last year as planned. However, as most of the devices still fulfil all current requirements, the University of Vienna has decided to extend the use of the hardware by 1 year for sustainability and cost reasons. The imminent switch from Windows 10 to the future Windows 11 operating system is another reason in favour of renewing the devices. Many older computer models are no longer hardware certified for Windows 11. Microsoft has already announced that support for Windows 10 will end on 14 October 2025.

What is replaced and how?

Both the desktop PCs and all associated keyboards, mice and power supply units will be replaced. Existing monitors will not be replaced. They still meet the required specifications and can therefore continue to be used.

In order to be able to carry out the replacement in coordination with the IT and faculty officers in as short a time frame as possible, an external service company will be responsible for the delivery, dismantling and assembly of all equipment. The ZID can only provide precise information about the manufacturer, specifications and delivery deadlines for the hardware once the procurement process has been finalised.

The new PCs are expected to fulfil the following minimum requirements:

• Design: Ultra Small Form Factor (USFF) with external power supply unit
• Processor: Intel Core i5 with integrated graphics (or comparable)
• Working memory (RAM): 32 GB
• Hard drive (SSD): 480 GB or 512 GB
• Network connection: Gigabit Ethernet (wired)
• Video connection: at least 2 DisplayPorts and 1 HDMI connection
• Warranty: 5-year manufacturer's warranty
• Operating system: Windows 11 basic licence

Information on the process

All affected institutions have already been informed about the project in advance by the ZID. The ZID is also in close contact with the respective IT and faculty representatives. Individual needs of the institutions can thus be taken into account in advance and included in the planning.

Employees receive all important information on the planned dates and exchange modalities in good time from their IT representative.

If you have any questions, please use the Servicedesk form General enquiry about standard administration PCs or administration notebooks.

An excerpt from the u:book portfolio

Until 25 March, u:book offers a wide range of devices at attractive prices, from powerful workstations and handy tablets to ultra-light budget laptops. Here is a small excerpt from the current sales period:

• Lenovo V15 G4: All-round notebook with a great price-performance ratio and very low weight of 1.6 kg for mobile working
  549.00 euros incl. operating system
• HP ZBook Power G10: mobile workstation and powerhouse for demanding work at an exclusive u:book price
  1,599.00 Euro incl. operating system
• Apple iPad (9th generation): brilliant 10.2-inch Retina display, impressive performance thanks to the A13 Bionic chip and all-day battery life
  From 355.00 euros
• Dell Latitude 3340 2-in-1: handy, modern 13.3-inch system with practical 360-degree hinge and included Dell Active Pen for making sketches
  999.00 euros incl. operating system
• ASUS ExpertBook B1: reliable, robust and adaptable to all everyday study needs with fast Wi-Fi 6 and modern AI noise-cancelling technology
  799.00 euros incl. operating system
• Acer Aspire 3: practical multitasking and more productivity thanks to AMD Ryzen 7 processor
  499.00 Euro incl. operating system

This is how you can order a u:book

You can find all devices from 26 February to 25 March here: ubook.at/en/shop/
When you have selected the right device, click To the shop. You will now be forwarded to the online shop of the respective sales partner. Log in with your u:account UserID and password. Shipping is free within Austria (with the exception of Apple products), pick-up is also possible for Lenovo and Apple products.

There are prizes to win!

To celebrate the start of the sales period, we have a great goodie for you: Until 25 March you can win cool prizes sponsored by ACP, HP, Acer, Dell and Asus:

• a versatile HP ProBook 450 G10
• a high resolution Acer monitor Nitro Curved
• a practicle Dell speakerphone
• a pair of Asus ROG Cetra headphones

To the u:book competition and the conditions of participation: ubook.at/en/competition/

--

ubook.at/en/

“So far, Azure has mainly been used by computer scientists,” reports Fabian Jusufi from the Coordination Digital Transformation team, which is responsible for the Azure service. He is pleased that many applications have been submitted and that the funding is fulfilling its purpose: “The applications we have received are a colourful mix. We are now funding research projects from the fields of translation studies, journalism, pharmaceutical sciences, meteorology and evolutionary anthropology, among others. This great diversity surprised us and shows how interesting the Microsoft Azure service is for researchers at the entire University of Vienna.”

Just like the disciplines, the topics are also broadly diversified: for example, the projects deal with improving machine translations for the technical field or mapping odour perception. Alternative approaches to analysing the relationship between citizens and politicians are also being researched, as well as ways of comparing information available on the web and highlighting contradictions within it.

In order to be able to support all projects despite the great interest, the maximum funding amount was limited to 4,000.00 euros per project and the funding pot was increased from 20,000.00 to 22,000.00 euros. 

3 projects have been prioritised and will receive funding of 4,000.00 euros. They either utilise hybrid approaches, i.e. combine Azure services with local infrastructure, or use Azure services for which the ZID offers no alternative. A further 5 projects are being funded with 2,000.00 euros.

The focus of the research projects is on using services for artificial intelligence or virtual machines with powerful graphics processing units (GPUs) in Azure. The Coordination Digital Transformation team sets up the Azure environments for the projects, the implementation phase of which begins in February 2024. These must be carried out in Azure by 31.07.2024.

A complete list of the funded research projects including abstracts can be found under Funding for research with Azure services.

As innovative as this was in the beginning, usage has steadily declined in recent years. Most recently, hardly any videos were stored on the u:stream server. Since the launch of the browser-based u:stream administration, which allows videos to be easily recorded, uploaded, edited, published and managed, the service has actually become obsolete.

Download videos now

The ZID is therefore consolidating its video tools and decommissioning the u:stream server. Those responsible now have until 30 June to download and save the videos stored there. Authorised persons can find out how to do this by e-mail and in a practical user guide.

Incidentally, the u:stream server also has recordings of lectures from 2019 and earlier that were recorded in the lecture hall and automatically uploaded using the predecessor of today's u:stream service. If you still need these recordings, please contact u:stream support directly.

Or maybe it's time to say thank you for your attention and goodbye!