This is for the attention of all those who have a self-managed computer (i.e. not MDP Windows or DICE Linux) using a wired network connection in either the Forum or Bayes Centre. This wired connection will be at risk next week – read on for details. Please be aware that we plan to replace the […]

During the summer of 2023 all the student lab machines were upgraded from Ubuntu 20.04 (Focal Fossa) to 22.04 (Jammy Jellyfish). Since then the Computing Team has been busy upgrading the user-accessible servers to the same platform. To ensure the ongoing security of our systems and provide a consistent environment for all users, we now […]

We will be upgrading the Informatics XRDP Remote Desktop (remote.inf) cluster from Ubuntu Focal to Jammy on Thursday this week (14th September). The work will begin at approximately 09:00 and we expect the service to be unavailable for several hours. Whilst the service is unavailable those users with DICE desktops can access that via RDP […]

Please be aware of a current wave of phishing emails which purport to be voicemails with subjects such as “Voicemail (48 secs)”. These are scams designed to trick you into supplying various login and personal details, they are being sent from compromised accounts, which is why they look real. Please do not open these emails, […]

The Chief Information Security Officer for the University announced on Monday 21st March that all users of the University VPN service MUST reset their password. Users of the Informatics OpenVPN service are not affected. Note that, as this is a centrally provided service, any queries or support requests must be directed to Information Services. Here […]

Following Russia’s attack on Ukraine, the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) is calling on all UK organisations to increase their vigilance for cyber attacks. It is clear that various groups are now using this crisis as an opportunity to launch new phishing email attacks. For example, there are scams asking people to "Help Ukraine" and […]

By now most people are probably aware of the recent discovery of multiple critical security issues in the Java log4j logging library (version 2) which have been named “log4shell“. In some circumstances, these flaws can give attackers the ability to remotely execute their code on our systems. An overview can be found on Wikipedia. Since […]

The way in which SSH login services are provided for the School of Informatics will soon be changing.

On Monday 1st March we will replace the SSH server named “bruegel” which hosts ssh.inf.ed.ac.uk and student.ssh.inf.ed.ac.uk with a new machine named “auriga“. All that will happen is that at about 09:00 on Monday we will change the DNS alias to point to the new machine. This change can take some time to propagate so […]

We are very pleased to announce that the Informatics managed Linux desktop environment (DICE) has been ported to Ubuntu 20.04 (Focal Fossa). After 5 years of service our Scientific Linux 7 (SL7) based desktop environment is showing its age. In particular, this has begun to make it difficult to provide the latest versions of software […]