Tag Archives: lisblog

Learning about Tor and the Dark Web

I participated in DLINQ’s Crypto Party for Activists and Allies and learned a lot about Tor. Of course I’d heard of Tor beforehand, but I didn’t know how it worked and I only associated it with criminal activity and spy stuff. Turns out it is also an important resource for reporters needing to communicate privately with sources and for activists who also need privacy and may need to thwart a home country’s censorship of the internet. I prepared for the session I was part of by reading about Tor from the resources about web browsers we were given. After the Crypto party, some things were still a little, well, cryptic for me, so I wanted to learn even more. There’s an hour long course on Linked In’s Lynda.com that is very clear and explained Tor and encryption in more detail. The instructor is really good and explained it in plain English (with graphics) for the non-specialist. Here’s the link for the Lynda course Learning Tor and the Dark Web (you’ll need to login with your Midd credentials – we are subscribers).

If you want to know about the other topics from the Crypto party and see all of the resources that were provided, visit the Crypto Party page.

Macbook recalls

ITS wants to make all employees and students aware of two current serious Macbook recalls:

Recall #1:

Apple has issued a battery recall notice for “Mid-2015” model 15″ Macbook Pro laptops. The situation is a safety issue as according to Apple “the battery may overheat and pose a fire safety risk.”

Apple’s customer info page about the issue can be found at:
https://support.apple.com/15-inch-macbook-pro-battery-recall

Employees here at the college with college-issued Macbooks affected by this issue have been contacted via a WebHelpdesk ticket to arrange to have Apple repair their computer. Employees with personal computers and students are advised to use the above link to check their serial number and then follow the instructions on their website to arrange repair. Due to the nature of this repair, Apple is not allowing us to perform the repair in-house so your Macbook will need to be shipped to Apple for repair. Turn around will be 1 to 2 weeks and Apple advises users to shut down and stop using the computer until after it is repaired.  If you store any files to the local hard drive, you will want to transition your data onto one of our cloud storage solutions, like OneDrive/Middfiles beforehand.  With an off-site repair, data is not guaranteed to be intact, and our cloud storage options are backed up and accessible from just about anywhere.   

Recall #2:

Another recall is for the SSD (hard drive) in some 13” non-touchbar Macbook Pro laptops. This problem can lead to data loss. To check your serial number, use this link:

https://support.apple.com/13-inch-macbook-pro-solid-state-drive-service

Affected employees here at the college have already had tickets created and been emailed via WebHelpdesk. Users are advised to ensure they are properly storing all their data on OneDrive/Middfiles in order to protect their data in the event their SSD fails prior to repair.

Exam hours at the Davis Family Library

The Davis Family Library will be open until 2 am starting Monday night, May 6th. Regular hours resume for Friday and Saturday, May 10th and 11th, then the 2 am closing will be in place for Sunday night through Thursday night.  Regular hours resume for Friday and Saturday, May 17th and 18th.   2 am closing resumes for Sunday and Monday, then both Davis and Armstrong Libraries will close at 10 pm on Tuesday, May 21st.   A reminder that you will need your college ID to access the building after 9 pm.

Armstrong Library will have regular hours until May 21st.

A full calendar of the hours can be found at go/hours

Update on New York Times access

You may be aware that we’ve had an access problem with the New York Times web site over the past few months. The short version of the issue is that SGA was providing online access until NYT discontinued that program…which no one on campus realized until our access ceased (there’s more detail in this Campus article). The Times’ new program is extremely expensive, and the library’s funding for this fiscal year was set last year. Partial access is still available; would that full access were, and we wish an immediate solution were at hand. We haven’t given up, though, and are still working on the problem. Please feel free to contact Douglas Black, Head of Collections Management, for more information.

SCAM Alert – “Sextortion” Scam Emails

ITS is aware of an influx of sextortion scam emails received by members of the Middlebury community. These are indeed scams, identified as such by online security sources (see below) and making the rounds on the Internet once again. Recent samples have been personalized with older passwords stolen from breaches of third-party websites, such as Linkedin, Adobe, etc..

Please forward any sextortion scam emails to phishing@middlebury.edu so that the sender addresses can be blocked!

For more information on these sorts of scams, see:

https://krebsonsecurity.com/2018/07/sextortion-scam-uses-recipients-hacked-passwords/comment-page-13/
Excerpt: “The message purports to have been sent from a hacker who’s compromised your computer and used your webcam to record a video of you while you were watching porn. The missive threatens to release the video to all your contacts unless you pay a Bitcoin ransom. The new twist? The email now references a real password previously tied to the recipient’s email address.”

These are indeed scams. Recent samples have been personalized with older passwords stolen from breaches of third-party websites, such as Linkedin, Adobe, etc..

Here is a resource to help you find out where an old password to a 3rd party site may have been exposed: https://haveibeenpwned.com is run by Troy Hunt, a globally recognized security expert.

Check your email address here: https://haveibeenpwned.com (use your_username@middlebury.edu and then scroll down to see services where your username may have been part of a breach)

Check your password here: https://haveibeenpwned.com/Passwords

Change that password anywhere you use it and this time, pick a different STRONG password for each service.

Again, please forward any sextortion scam emails to phishing@middlebury.edu so that the sender addresses can be blocked from bothering our community members!

Write-In 2018

a flyer

Come Visit the 4th Annual Middlebury Write-In, Wednesday, December 5th, from 8:00 p.m. – 11:00 p.m. in Davis Family Library 201 or the Anderson Freeman Center.

On Wednesday, December 5th, from 8:00 p.m. – 11:00 p.m., supported by the Center for Teaching, Learning and Research (CTLR), the 4th Annual Middlebury Write-In will be held. Students can receive writing assistance from tutors and research help from librarians in Davis Family Library 201 or in the Anderson Freeman Center. Snacks will be served.

Interlibrary Loan Winter Break Service Update – 2018

Books

Due to the holidays, shipping madness, the increased risk of losses, and the lack of open libraries willing to send things, the Interlibrary Loan Department limits ordering and shipping during the second half of December.

If you need anything before winter break request it now!  Interlibrary loan requests submitted to ILLiad after Dec. 15th will be ordered in early January.

ILLiad article requests will continue to be filled by RapidILL through Dec. 22st, but requests must have a valid ISSN and year to be processed by Rapid.

Use Worldcat to find your citations and submit your loan requests!