Information Technology

Safety first: Relaunched U of T safety abroad website to streamline travel abroad process

sungjimi — Tue, 08 Oct 2019 21:10:18 +0000

Safety first: Relaunched U of T safety abroad website to streamline travel abroad process sungjimi Tue, 10/08/2019 - 17:10

Robust international collaboration is one reason why many students and researchers choose the University of Toronto. For students, studying abroad can open their minds. For researchers, global engagement can expand the scope and impact of their work.

To support international travel and ensure their safety, the university has redesigned a more streamlined online registry for traveling students and relaunched its safety abroad website which will be a one-stop-shop for faculty, staff and students seeking information about U of T’s safety abroad policies.

The self-serve registration is a requirement for those traveling abroad for university-related work, according to U of T policy. Students must register online and fill out the form while faculty members who are sponsoring the trip must also do their part by becoming familiar with their responsibilities as a trip sponsor and contacting the Centre for International Experience (CIE) for specifics on a student’s trip.

If a country’s risk level increases according to Global Affairs Canada (GAC), the online registry will help staff quickly identify where students are located in a country, state or municipality. Details such as emergency contact information and passport information is now mandatory when students register on the database, so that administrators can easily intervene in the event of an emergency.

“It’s important to have nuanced data so that we can make quick and accurate decisions,” says Jocelyn Ma, safety abroad adviser with the Centre for International Experience. “This revamped registry eliminates a lot of manual work, so if there’s an emergency we can quickly contact students and offer 24-hour support.”

The registry follows a self-serve model, allowing students to register for travel in lower risk countries and regions. If they are travelling to higher risk areas, they are prompted in the system to work with the CIE’s safety abroad staff for specific preparation.

“Throughout the process we’ve removed a lot of paperwork – students can submit their trip details, complete waivers and confirm training,” said Evan Moir, a user experience designer with U of T's enterprise applications and solutions integration department.

In addition to the updated registry, the relaunched safety abroad website will offer information about International SOS, a resource that U of T recently signed on with. The service lets travellers type in questions such as “Can I drink tap water in this city?” and offer 24-7 telephone access to a nurse.

More than 4,000 students travel abroad each year for university activity. The revamped website will serve them and the more than 165 different programs and institutes on U of T’s three campuses.

In the past, CIE has contacted students about political unrest in Kenya, water scarcity in South Africa and emergency drills in South Korea and Japan.

“While South Korea and Japan remained as low risk, according to GAC, it was foreseeable that students may feel unsafe,” says Ma. “We sent messages to let them know we were monitoring the situation and we provided advice on how to proceed.”

Trip sponsors, including professors, are notified about students’ request to travel and can contact CIE for further information.

A previous travel sponsor, David Montemurro, an associate professor, teaching stream, with the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, runs a regular study abroad program for his students. His students have completed internships in Colombia, Costa Rica, Hong Kong and China.

“International education helps our students connect education policy with teaching practice, while also developing global citizenship – it really opens doors on both sides,” says Montemurro. “Safety is a key priority, along with academic, legal and health considerations, and the safety abroad office is an integral resource for us.”

Woodsworth College also offers an undergraduate Summer Abroad program, and CIE helps graduate students travel to more than 140 partner institutions in more than 40 countries. In addition, U of T Mississauga and U of T Scarborough run similar programs.

“As the first point of contact for travel abroad, we want to be responsive in making sure we’re helping students, and this registry helps us accomplish this goal,” says Ma. “One of U of T’s missions is to help our students study abroad and become global scholars – and helping students do this safely is our top priority.”

Safety first: Relaunched U of T safety abroad website to streamline travel abroad process

U of T students participating in the International/Indigenous Course Modules (ICM) program pose in Tbilisi, Georgia. Photo by Tami Piovesan

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U of T staff (ethically) hack CERN, world’s largest particle physics lab

noreen.rasbach — Wed, 04 Apr 2018 16:27:39 +0000

U of T staff (ethically) hack CERN, world’s largest particle physics lab

noreen.rasbach Wed, 04/04/2018 - 12:27

Cutline

CERN, the international lab near Geneva, is home to the Large Hadron Collider, the world’s largest particle accelerator (photo by Claudia Marcelloni/CERN)

Topic

Information Technology

It takes 22 member states, more than 10,000 scientists and state-of-the-art technology for CERN to investigate the mysteries of the universe. But no matter how cutting-edge a system is, it can have vulnerabilities – and last year �ؿ�ζSM employees helped CERN find theirs.

CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research, asked for help to hack its digital infrastructure last year, organizing the White Hat Challenge. Allan Stojanovic and David Auclair from U of T’s ITS Information Security Enterprise and Architecture department, along with a group of security professionals, were more than willing to answer the call.

Passionate advocates for information security, Stojanovic and Auclair say regular testing is essential for any organization.

“Vulnerabilities are not created, they are discovered,” says Stojanovic. “Just because something has been working, doesn’t mean there wasn’t a flaw in it all along.”

Their director, Mike Wiseman, supported their participation in the challenge. “This competition was an opportunity to bring experts together to exercise their skill as well as give CERN a valuable test of their infrastructure.”

Stojanovic first heard about the challenge during a presentation at a Black Hat digital security conference. He jumped at the opportunity, immediately approaching the presenter, Stefan Lüders, CERN’s security manager.

Stojanovic put together a group of eight industry professionals (pen testers, consultants, Computer Information Systems administrators and programmers), set goals for the test and created a ten-day timeline.

Any penetration test involves three main stages: scoping, reconnaissance and scanning. Before the scanning stage begins, testers are not allowed to interact with the system directly, but try to learn everything they can about it.

During the “scoping” stage, testers define what is “in scope” and specify what IP spaces and domains they can and cannot probe during the testing. The “recon” stage is exactly what it sounds like: reconnaissance. The testers try to find out everything they can about the domains that are in scope, helping guide them towards potential weaknesses.

With scoping and recon complete, the team was able to officially begin the scanning stage. Scanning is like a huge treasure hunt, beginning with a broad search and gradually narrowing it down, burrowing deeper and deeper into the most interesting areas and letting go of the others.

This went on for nine days. It was a gruelling process – the team would find a tiny foothold, investigate it, but nothing significant would emerge. This happened again and again.

Read about U of T scientists at CERN

Finally, Stojanovic was woken up one day by a short message, “I got it!” One of his team members, Jamie Baxter, had solved the puzzle – a breakthrough generated by multiple late nights of patient analysis.

Details of the breakthrough are kept secret due to a confidentiality agreement with CERN. But after more than two weeks of work, the team revealed weaknesses in CERN’s security infrastructure and provided important recommendations on how to improve it.

CERN's security group was then able to roll out fixes and address the identified vulnerabilities before U of T's formal report even hit their desks.

Stojanovic hopes that his team’s success will encourage educators to use penetration testing as a pedagogical tool.

“It’s a lot of really fantastic experience,” he says, adding that these are the hands-on skills that new security professionals are going to need in the fast-growing information security industry.

Stojanovic also hopes that other institutions, including U of T, will follow CERN’s lead in opening themselves up to testing of this nature.

And this won’t be the last CERN will see of U of T – Lüders has already asked for round two.

Farewell to ROSI, U of T's student web service

noreen.rasbach — Mon, 05 Feb 2018 17:40:04 +0000

Farewell to ROSI, U of T's student web service

noreen.rasbach Mon, 02/05/2018 - 12:40

Cutline

The ROSI mascot from orientation in 2004 (photo by Katie Babcock)

Katie Babcock

Topic

Our Community

Faculty of Arts & Science

Information Technology

Innis College

Ontario Institute for Studies in Education

After 19 years, ROSI Student Web Service will officially be retired on Feb. 15. In its place, ACORN has now become the primary student web service since launching in 2015 – with more than 12 million logins in the past year.

U of T’s Enterprise Applications and Solutions Integration (EASI) kept the two systems running concurrently to help students make the transition. Now, ACORN is ready to take over.

But how did we make the leap from long lineups and paper-based registration to technology that revolutionizes the student experience?

When ROSI was nearing the end of its lifecycle, the project team decided to rewrite the code with contemporary best practices and student expectations in mind. These included using inclusive design principles for accessibility, improving mobile usability, and making the process of planning and enrolling in courses more helpful and personalized to each student.

The team engaged hundreds of students through interviews, usability tests and other research activities.

“Our goal was to improve the student experience using the web service in a number of different ways: planning for and conducting course enrolment, understanding and accessing financial information, as well as increasing the visibility and engagement with student life services,” says Michael Clark, manager of user experience and process design with EASI.

“ACORN provides a cohesive experience that helps students navigate an otherwise complicated network of resources across the university.”

Students register for classes, using paper, at U of T Scarborough in 1969 (photo courtesy of �ؿ�ζSM Scarborough Library, UTSC Archives Legacy Collection)

The ACORN project team within EASI partnered with Enterprise Infrastructure Solutions and with Information Security and Enterprise Architecture to launch the service.

“ACORN is a more highly polished and functional website than ROSI could be during its time. Students can see if there’s room in a course and how long a wait list is – there’s much more transparency to the process,” says Karel Swift, who was U of T’s university registrar and led the functional development and implementation of ROSI. “Fees can also be paid in the same place as course and program selection – it truly is a one-stop shop.”

The past

Before 1974, students registered through an entirely paper-based system.

The university moved from this system in 1974 to enter students’ paper-based course selections into computers. In 1978, staff transcribed 31,400 students’ selections.

Students waiting in line outside of Woodsworth College, formerly the Drill Hall, to register for classes in 1988 (photo courtesy of Richard Chow)

“In the 1980s, students used to wait in long lineups to have their paper course selections processed in the computer system,” says Rodney Branch, who worked in college registrars’ offices at the time and is currently manager of client services and process integration with EASI. “They would then have to line up separately to pay their fees. The lineups would go out the door, down the hall and onto the sidewalk.”

Donald Boere, registrar of Innis College, remembers ACCESS, the Assisted by Computer Course Enrolment and Scheduling System used by the Faculty of Arts & Science starting in the late 1980s.

“In the summer, students wrote their options for timetable scenarios on paper forms, and all these requests would be typed into IBM dedicated terminals (pictured left) by staff, though in later years, students with touch-tone – not rotary – phones could enter their own requests through the Student Telephone Service. Resulting timetables were mailed to every student. For changes, there was a second round, called Mini-ACCESS, and students got new timetables during Registration Week. It was pretty cutting-edge for its time.”

Anil Purandaré was one of those students. “During my first year, I was anxious and pretty naive about the process. New College had a large sign that said, ‘Don’t Worry – We’ll Help You.’ It was lovely to meet people, but increasingly complex registration required a more effective process,” says Purandaré, now a doctoral registration specialist at the Office of the Registrar and Student Services at U of T's Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE).

“ACORN has made the registration process much more student-friendly. When you’re anxious, and perhaps naive about the process, that helps a lot.”

ROSI was introduced in 1999 and was used, along with the ROSI telephone service, to enable 54,132 students to register in real time.

The future

In 2016-17, 88,766 students enrolled at U of T. To accommodate increasing numbers and enrolment complexity in the future, Information Technology Services will implement a new computing platform in 2018. This upgrade will improve system performance and capacity, allowing up to 15,000 students to register simultaneously for classes during peak registration times.

ROSI, now called ROSI Alumni Transcripts, will continue to exist in a simplified form for alumni to view their academic history, request transcripts and reset their PIN. Staff will still use the administrator-facing ROSI to manage and maintain students’ records, and ACORN will evolve to serve students’ needs.

“ACORN will continue to be timely, personalized and helpful – with improved accessibility, mobile optimizations, financial tools and additional complementary tools, including the Grant Application, GPA Calculator and Financial Planning Calculator,” says Clark. “We’re the hub in the wheel of student services and we’ll be strengthening that core to consistently improve the student experience.”

Financial planning calculator helps U of T students to easily and accurately predict their living costs

rasbachn — Fri, 27 Oct 2017 20:38:30 +0000

Financial planning calculator helps U of T students to easily and accurately predict their living costs

rasbachn Fri, 10/27/2017 - 16:38

Cutline

Since its launch in February 2016, the financial calculator has helped more than 14,152 undergraduate students. Now the application is available to all graduate and second-entry students (photo by iStock)

Katie Babcock

Topic

Our Community

Information Technology

Students

Subheadline

Tuition is just the beginning. Housing, utilities, food, textbooks, transit and recreation costs all add up, and managing expenses can often become an overwhelming task for busy students. But the financial planning calculator, now available to all U of T students, is helping them easily and accurately predict their living costs for a year – setting them up for academic and future success.

“When we interviewed students before developing this application, we discovered that they didn’t know how to budget, how much to budget or didn’t have effective tools, aside from calculating everything manually using a spreadsheet,” says Laura Klamot, a user experience designer with U of T’s Enterprise Applications and Solutions Integration department (EASI). “Now students have a simple, customizable tool they can use each year to plan ahead.”

“It’s hard to predict what everything will cost – especially food and recreation,” says Yanna Ding, a first-year student in the Faculty of Arts & Science. “When I graduate I don’t want to have a lot of debt, so I want to manage my finances closely. I’ll also need to develop economic independence, and a tool like this could really help in my future planning.”

Use the financial planning calculator

Tutorial shows how the calculator works

The tool helps students quickly predict how much it will cost to live in Toronto, an often difficult task for those who are unfamiliar with the area. It is also highly customizable for each individual depending on their program, year of study, residency status and campus. The application will suggest specific resources for awards and financial aid to help them save money and manage expenses.

“If you’re spending more money on meals, compared to your peers, then the application will notify you and offer resources such as U of T’s Food Services, and there’s also information about cooking for yourself,” says Michael Clark, manager of user experience and process design at EASI.

The team is planning to solicit feedback and make improvements for future releases.

“I’m happy we’re providing this tool to students as it will help them make informed decisions about their finances,” says Clark. “We’re focused on improving the student experience, and this tool is an example of how we can approach that objective from a different direction and offer value to our community.”

Experts take on the latest hacks and leaks at U of T's upcoming McLuhan Salon

Romi Levine — Thu, 19 Jan 2017 20:30:26 +0000

Experts take on the latest hacks and leaks at U of T's upcoming McLuhan Salon

Romi Levine Thu, 01/19/2017 - 15:30

Cutline

U of T alumnus and Mozilla Foundation Executive Director Mark Surman will be participating in Thursday's McLuhan Salon (photo by Joi Ito via Flickr)

Romi Levine

Author legacy

Romi Levine

Topic

City & Culture

Cyber Security

U.S. politics

McLuhan Centre for Culture & Technology

Cities

Information Technology

Alumni

The leak of an alleged intelligence memo about U.S. president-elect Donald Trump divided the media on whether or not to publish its details or acknowledge its legitimacy.

On Tuesday, President Barack Obama commuted the prison sentence of Chelsea Manning, the former U.S. army intelligence analyst who leaked classified documents to WikiLeaks – a move that was praised by many but received harsh criticism from Republicans.

Tonight, the McLuhan Salon is taking on its most timely and contested topic yet. Ripped straight from the headlines, “Hacks, Leaks, and Breaches: Chronicles from the Cybervillage” will dissect the latest news and address hotly debated issues around cyber security.

Participants include Mark Surman, a U of T alumnus and executive director of the Mozilla Foundation, McGill University's Gabriella Coleman, an expert on Anonymous, and Mathew Ingram, a senior writer at Fortune Magazine.

The salons, inspired by the late U of T professor and influential media theorist Marshall McLuhan, are hosted by U of T’s McLuhan Centre for Culture and Technology and are held at different Toronto venues every month. Tonight's salon takes place at the Toronto Reference Library.

“The role played by WikiLeaks, Anonymous or trolling in recent years is no longer a niche cultural phenomena,” says Paolo Granata, visiting professor, McLuhan Centenary fellow and salon organizer.

These organizations, often called “hacktivists,” have been a game changer in their ability to influence global politics, says Granata.

“For this reason, we need to understand what is at stake in a networked society in terms of security and privacy, rights and freedom,” he says.

High profile government operatives-turned-leakers such as Manning and Edward Snowden have been central to shedding light on these issues, making them a hero to some and an enemy to others.

“We certainly benefited from people having the courage to leak information,” says Surman. “It helps us understand what's really going on, on the Internet. I personally think of Snowden as a hero as many do.”

Ingram is interested in discussing the thorny ethics surrounding hacks and leaks.

“When is it okay to report on and when is it not? It's a difficult question – and the goalposts keep moving,” he says.

Coleman will explore the ways digital leaks came into being.

“What's really interesting is that its history is remarkably recent even though the technical possibilities to engage in this form of hacking to leak has existed for 25 years,” she says.

The spate of hacks and leaks has forced companies and governments to learn hard lessons, but they still aren’t going far enough to protect themselves, says Coleman.

“This is a perennial issue, and you'd think with each new hack and leak and breach, that organizations would get their security act together. So far, there have been small steps in that direction, but it's very slow going.”

The salon provides a unique opportunity to have a public discussion outside of the Internet echo chambers – something Ingram and Coleman are looking forward to.

“I've never seen so many shows about hacking and so much news media, but it's hard to understand what the public thinks,” says Coleman. “[The salon] will provide an interesting barometer for how people are receiving this news, what they think about security, and whether they find value in some of these leaks – some of them are very, very controversial.”

Ingram wants salon participants to weigh in.

“I would like to hear their thoughts about whether they feel less secure, and whether they think the media should be publishing things like people's personal emails just because they can,” he says.