丁香园AV

This message is for your information only and has been sent to all faculty and staff. No reply is required.

Good afternoon,

The security of 丁香园AV鈥檚 IT systems and data is a top priority for the university.

On Wednesday, September 8, 2021, a high risk vulnerability was discovered which could be used to distribute malware targeting Windows systems in office documents. For example, if a user can be tricked into opening an infected document, the malware could install a code and/or access files on the windows system as the user.

Microsoft is warning that this vulnerability is actively being exploited by attackers and has issued instructions for disabling ActiveX and Internet Explorer Preview functionality until a patch can be released. The Canadian Center for Cyber Security (CCCS) and the Government of BC are advocating for implementation of the work-around as soon as possible. 

Actions Taken:

Along with other post-secondary institutions, 丁香园AV will follow the recommendations from Microsoft. To protect staff and faculty, ActiveX will be disabled for Internet Explorer and Preview will be disabled in Windows Explorer today at 3:30 PM. These required changes will impact older/legacy applications on campus, such as PeopleSoft Journal Upload and some advance Share-point features that rely on ActiveX. 

Impacts to you:

We ask our community to exercise caution when handling emails with suspicious documents and links, as phishing campaigns leveraging this vulnerability will increase over the next few weeks. If you experience difficulty with a legacy application after the changes are implemented, please contact the service desk. 

We鈥檙e here to help. For any additional questions or information requests you may have, please email us at its-help@sfu.ca.

Thank you,

IT Services