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Semester Communication - Fall 2026

Semester Communication - Fall 2026

Subject: CNS OIT: Fall 2026 Start-of-Semester IT Updates & Reminders

Dear CNS Faculty and Staff,

Now that the Fall 2026 semester is underway (classes began August 24), the College of Natural Sciences Office of Information Technology (CNS OIT) wants to flag a few changes and reminders that could affect your day-to-day experience with IT this term.

Stay Alert for Phishing and Account Compromise

Account compromise attempts remain elevated across campus this year, and automated defenses are blocking hundreds of thousands of phishing attempts each month system-wide. CNS has room to improve on the campus security compliance scorecard compared to other colleges, so we're asking everyone to help close that gap:

  • Be cautious with unexpected emails, links, or requests for your EID password — when in doubt, report it rather than click it.

  • Make sure Duo is set up and current on your devices. If you're traveling somewhere your phone won't have signal, review your options for managing Duo offline before you go: How To: Duo Two-Factor Authentication, or contact ITS at (512) 475-9400.

  • Install operating system and application updates as soon as they're available. Campus ISO has a no-tolerance policy for unpatched devices and will quarantine systems it finds vulnerable — please don't let a missed update take you offline mid-semester.

Keep Your Devices Compliant

Minimum supported operating systems for network access remain Windows 11 and macOS Ventura (13) or later. If you're still behind:

  • Verify your critical applications are compatible before upgrading, and confirm you have a current backup first.

  • Managed machines: leave your computer powered on and connected to the network so CNS OIT can push updates; restart at least every two weeks to let pending updates finish.

  • Personal/unmanaged machines used for UT work must also stay on a vendor-supported OS — this applies any time you connect via Duo or VPN.

  • If you can't upgrade, have a business justification requiring network access, and need a documented exception, submit a ticket to CNS OIT and we'll help you through the ISO exception process.

Classroom & Conference Room AV

We encourage everyone to do a quick equipment check in your assigned rooms as soon as you can. Report any AV issues immediately — the classroom emergency line is (512) 232-9173, or submit a ticket at cns.utexas.edu/help for anything non-urgent. Please don't rewire, disconnect, or reconfigure in-room equipment; rooms are set up for a specific configuration and changes can strand the next person scheduled in that space.

Before You Buy or Connect New Technology

Talk to CNS OIT before purchasing or connecting anything new to the network — printers, smart boards, lab instruments, IoT devices, networked refrigerators or sensors, etc. Not everything is compatible with our network security requirements, and we'd rather help you pick the right option than troubleshoot after the fact.

  • Printer setup and security configurations have recently been updated — if you're reconnecting or newly installing a network printer, use https://cloud.wikis.utexas.edu/wiki/x/hgADZQ for current connection details rather than reusing an old address. If you run into issues, submit a request to CNS OIT for assistance.

  • Moving offices or labs, or need a new network port activated? Submit a request ticket to CNS OIT with the device owner's EID, department, building/room/wall port, device type and OS, and whether it needs off-campus remote access — this speeds up port activation considerably.

  • If you had an active port but it no longer works, please submit an incident ticket to address the issue. These cases tend to be quarantines and will require guidance from IT to resolve.

Store Data the Right Way

Please keep University data on supported, centrally managed storage rather than local drives or personal accounts:

A reminder that forwarding UT email to a personal account isn't permitted, and confidential data shouldn't be stored on personal devices without following the University's personal-device requirements (UTS 165) — see Use of Personal Devices for University Work for what that means in practice.

New Hires

If your area is bringing on new staff this semester, please submit a New Employee IT Onboarding Request as soon as the position is offered so we have time to provision hardware and accounts before their start date. On average, new orders require 2 weeks to procure and set up for deployment.

Need Help?

Reach us at cns.utexas.edu/help, or browse the CNS IT Help Hub for how-to documentation. Thank you for helping us keep the semester running smoothly.

Warm regards,

CNS Office of Information Technology The University of Texas at Austin help@cns.utexas.edu | Business Service Detail - IT Portal