Black Friday, Small Business Saturday, Cyber Monday, Giving Tuesday … the next week is gonna be crazy! While you’re finding great deals online, Pitt IT wants to help you protect your hard-earned cash from the scammers that pop up every year. About 36% of Americans have fallen prey to an online shopping scam according to a recent Norton survey — bah humbug! Here is what’s on our holiday wish list for you when shopping online.

Hundreds of writing assignments, presentations, data sheets, and images to keep track of. Countless classmates and colleagues to communicate with. Not enough storage on your computer and your Google account is rapidly filling up. Now that we’re settled into the fall semester, these worries may sound all too familiar. Yet have no fear — the solution to all these problems and more is easily accessible to you at Pitt at no additional cost.

You may have heard that Pitt Information Technology just rolled out a brand-new IT Services Portal powered by TeamDynamix, and we couldn’t be more thrilled to get you started.

So, what exactly is this IT Services Portal, and why should you be excited about it? Well, it’s your one-stop shop for all services offered to students, faculty, and staff through Pitt IT. The portal is designed to make your life easier in three key areas: understanding tech services, accessing help articles, and submitting help tickets.

Ensuring everyone in a group can share information, stay up to date, and coordinate their work is a challenge. Shared folders and documents can be a whole production, but many collaboration tools (like Teams and Project) can be overkill for a short-term project or regular team meetings. There’s no need to get overly dramatic — Microsoft OneNote has the perfect solution for making sure your cast is all reading from the same script. (Note: a shared notebook is a personal notebook that can be accessed and edited by multiple people.

A bunch of us have gotten it. An email saying that your email account is going to be suspended unless you verify your username and password. An Amazon purchase confirmation for something hella expensive that you never ordered. A vague notification that someone has shared a file with you. Or the classic work from home job offer that only requires 4 hours and pays $400 a week. Enough hackers! We’re tired of you trying to steal our money and personal data. You are canceled!

Picture this: After hours of procrastination, you finally make your way to your desk and flip open your laptop, pepperoni pizza in hand. Then you hit a wall — the login screen. With your English paper due in the morning, your brain chooses this moment to have the memory of a goldfish. Your first attempt to log in is unsuccessful. No worries, you say with slight panic in your eyes. You try again. “Oops! Enter the correct email address and password to sign in.” Suddenly, pizza is not your priority. You are in a fight for your academic life!

Wouldn’t it be nice if you could protect your password with another password? Multifactor authentication does just that. Think of it like placing your housekeys in a safety deposit box that can only be opened by a facial scan.

Multifactor authentication (MFA) is a cybersecurity measure that requires anyone logging in to prove their identity in additional ways. After you enter your username and password (something only you know), you then have to prove your identity with something only you have, like a fingerprint, facial scan, or your cellphone. 

You’re probably no stranger to those little pop-up windows telling you that software updates are available for your device or app. If you’re tempted to click “Remind me later”, you’re not alone. According to a National Cybersecurity Alliance survey, almost 2 in 5 people admit that they “sometimes,” “rarely,” or “never” install software updates.

I’m not going to pretend to be a hip Gen-Z (as evidenced by the fact that I just said “hip Gen-Z”). And I get it – you don’t love email. You can just text someone on WhatsApp or post to Instagram or Snapchat (or whatever social media you prefer). There are easier, real-time forms of communication that you can use to connect with others.

Managing your academic demands can be a challenge. Unlike high school, you have much more control over which classes you take, how you organize your time, and when and where you do your work. That’s a lot of freedom … and can be a lot of stress. Pitt provides several apps and online services to help students manage their academics and get the most out of their classes. Here are some of the most important ones for you to know.