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Powered On: Sep 2024

By Mat Camara

 

What is Microsoft 365? 
Microsoft 365 is a cloud-based suite of productivity tools that includes both online and desktop versions of popular applications like Outlook, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Teams. In addition to the office applications, Microsoft 365 offers a range of online integrations designed to facilitate collaboration, allowing you to work on documents, share files, and communicate with colleagues seamlessly from anywhere, on any device. 

Why Are We Rolling It Out? 
To stay current with the latest software advancements and improve collaboration across our organization, we will begin migrating to Microsoft 365. This transition will provide us with more robust tools for online collaboration, including document sharing and real-time co-authoring features that can help streamline workflows and improve productivity. 

When Are We Rolling It Out? 
The migration to Microsoft 365 will begin on September 16th, with a phased rollout over the following weeks by building.  IT will notify you before deploying the upgrade and the installation will happen automatically. Once your office computer has been updated, it will prompt you to log in to Office 365 when you first launch Outlook, Word, Excel, or PowerPoint. After entering your full e-mail address, you will be directed to authenticate with your Canyons ID.  All of your files will remain intact and you can continue to work as you always have. 



Office 365 login window

 Office 365 login window

Once logged in, you won't be prompted to log in again and can start using all the features immediately. 

 

How to Get Training 
If you have any questions or would like to schedule a training session for you or your group, please email helpdesk@canyons.edu. We are happy to provide answers and arrange training sessions to help you get the most out of Microsoft 365. 

Additional Features and Benefits 
Once logged in, you can access Microsoft 365's online capabilities to share and collaborate with colleagues by clicking the SHARE button in any application. The latest version also includes Teams, a collaboration application that allows for chatting, sharing screens, and conducting audio or video meetings directly within Office apps. Teams integrates seamlessly with other Microsoft 365 tools, enabling you to continue conversations and edits without leaving the app. 

 

To access your Office documents online, simply log in to owa.canyons.edu with your College of the Canyons email address. This allows for easy access to your files and the ability to work from anywhere with an internet connection. 

by Lisa Sawyer

Are you interested in boosting efficiency within the Colleague system? You might not realize it, but there are several shortcuts available that can streamline the process of navigating screens and editing data. Here are three of my top recommendations.

• @ (shift + 2) – Use the @ sign to pull up the last record you used on the previous screen. This can be a person, section, requisition number, budget accounts number, etc.

screenshot of colleage web-app

 

• … (3 dots) – Use …during your search to complete a partial search.

software screenshot of colleague web-app


• Excel icon - Export all results to a spreadsheet. The export function can be used on any screen where the icon is present (i.e. search results, multi-value fields).

For a full list of Keyboard Shortcuts, press Ctrl+Alt+K.

By Sarah Schnittker

 

What to Know: the Social Security Number Hack and protecting your identify in a digital age.

A little history: Social Security numbers (SSN) were originally designed to track individual accounts within the social security program, established in the mid 1930’s. However, as a personal identification number, it’s use was expanded to identify an individual’s personal economic footprint, including banking and tax history. During the digital age, this number has become a lifeline for personal identification both with government agencies as well as banking organizations; today, it is required as an alternative identification for most financial institutions.

This is why your SSN is so important today, and why hackers are looking to get their hands on that unique string of numbers. Its more than just guessing or making some numbers up, threat actors would only need your address or name to have full use of your SSN. Since 2006, federal laws have been put in place to require serious consideration of data security, including encryption, and establish effective responses to identify theft.

In August 2024, millions of people were impacted by the theft of social security numbers and other sensitive information via a data breach (DeLetter, 2024, USA Today). This is neither a new or unique story, with  thousands of data breaches annually according to the Identify Theft Resource Center. Companies from AT&T to Ticketmaster have all faced various types of data breaches, with millions of records stolen every year. Here are ways you can keep your data safe:

  1. Monitor your budgets and bank accounts often: if someone did manage to get into your account, they may be making small changes gradually to see if you notice. Stay on top of security by checking for potential changes to your account.
  2. Sign up for additional monitoring services through your bank: many of these services require a subscription, but if you have had your identify stolen in the past, it may be recommended to have a designated second pair of eyes watching use of your SSN.
  3. NEVER share your personal identification number or SSN over the phone, or through mail where it can be intercepted, unless you have a trusted relationship with the requestor, and you initiated the contact.

 

Cybersecurity month is coming!

by Hsiawne Hull

 

Did you know that every year since 2003, the month of October has been recognized as Cybersecurity month? Since 2023/2024, the IT team at College of the Canyons has been doing their best to spice things up when it comes to boring cyber training and this year is no different. For 2024/2025 we created the ambitious goal to teach YOU, how to be hackers! Have you ever wanted to learn how to pick locks, crack passwords and skim a credit card? Well have we got the classes for you. This Cybersecurity month, we will be offering in person, personal hacking tutorials where you will learn the basics of how the bad guys do bad things. You’ll get to learn the real-world techniques on the tools professional hackers use to get the job done. Sign ups for October events will begin late September, so keep an eye out for when to login and grab a spot. We can’t wait to see you there.

Hacker Boot Camp: Locks, Keys and Passwords
October 1st, 7th, 30th – Limit 15 attendees IP Only

Hacker Boot Camp: Lets hack stuff!
October 9th, 17th, and 28th  - Limit 15 attendees  IP Only

Information Security Overview:
October 10th, 24th

State of Cyber Security:
October 2nd, 18th, 31st