This newsletter contains relevant information for all staff, for instance GDPR rules, IT security and IT procurement. Furthermore we use the newsletter to collect IT news or information regarding IT changes from AU, NAT-TECH IT, AU IT and other sources.

If you have information or IT tips which are relevant for future IT newsletters please contact Charlotte.

Pradip Kumar has left the IT committee. New members are Thomas Mejer Hansen and Andrew Kass.

AU changes antivirus software to Microsoft Defender for Endpoint: New computers are therefore configured with Defender instead of McAfee.

On March 20 2023 AU warned against a security threath, the  TikTok application:

Aarhus University follows advice from the national Centre for Cyber Security and asks staff to delete TikTok from their AU mobile devices.

The Centre for Cyber Security (CFCS) advises against employees in government institutions and agencies using TikTok on their work mobile devices and the senior management team at Aarhus University has decided to follow this advice.

Furthermore, it is not allowed to access AU data from private phones which has TikTok installed.

“It’s very rare that we receive such a direct recommendation from the Centre for Cyber Security to stop using a specific app. TikTok has been assessed as a potential security risk, because it’s unclear how the massive amount of data it collects is being used,” says deputy director of AU IT Peter Bruun Nielsen.

In practice, this means that:

• If you have a work mobile phone or tablet, you must ensure that TikTok is removed on this device. You must do this as soon as possible –  deadline was 31 March.
• If you have a private mobile phone or tablet on which you’d like to use TikTok, you must ensure that this device does not have access to AU data, such as AU email, Teams or OneDrive. You must do this as soon as possible – deadline was 31 March.

Until recently, AU was conducting a pilot project to assess whether TikTok could be a good communication platform to recruit students. This project is now over, and AU will no longer have a TikTok presence.

Background on the CFCS advice:
According to the CFCS, which is a unit under the Danish Defence Intelligence Service, TikTok is owned by the Chinese company ByteDance, and, as a Chinese company, ByteDance is subject to China’s security legislation, which gives government institutions and agencies the power to gather data from Chinese businesses.

Read the recommendation by the Centre for Cyber Security (in Danish only)

The Centre for Cyber Security also believes that TikTok’s privacy policy allows the app to collect a wide range of data and to connect this data to the user’s identity. Some of this data could even be used for espionage.

Any questions?

Do you need help deleting TiKTok from your work device or blocking access to AU systems on your private device? Contact your local IT-support.

In accordance with the policy for research integrity, freedom of research and responsible conduct of research at Aarhus University, research data must be stored for a period of at least five years, unless another statutory storage period applies with regard to the research project and data requires longer storage.

Research data may only be destroyed, anonymised and/or archived, see legislation on archiving, when the following conditions are met:

• When the storage period has expired.
• According to a decision by the department head.
• In accordance with the legal basis for collecting data.
• When digital data is delivered to The Danish National Archives (Rigsarkivet).

For questions related to data management, contact the Technology Transfer Office: tto@au.dk, the Data Protection Unit at AU: dpo@au.dk or IT-support.

Good data management has the following benefits:

• Help your peers and yourself to understand your research project and its data.
• Make it easier to collaborate and share data.
• Make your research more visible, which in turn can lead to more citations.
• Make your research more transparent, reliable and reproducible.
• Avoid data loss.

https://medarbejdere.au.dk/en/research-data-management

Aarhus Universitet is in the process of adding new solutions for research data management:

• ERDA, Electronic Research Data Archive: For "normal" research data. You can create static data sets and assign DOIs.
• SIF, Sensitive Information Facility: Data that contains sensitive information such as GDPR-data (confidential or sensitive data).

Both systems are danish and secure, i.e. they can be used to share data with external collaborators.

More information is expected during 2023.

https://medarbejdere.au.dk/en/administration/it/guides/datastorage/data-storage

A new site license is coming for Windows, macOS, Linux and Cloud for Wolfram Mathematica which can be used by both staff and students. 

Contact: Thomas Mejer Hansen.

During the weekend of 22. og 23. april 2023 AU IT will take a large number of AU’s IT systems and possibly other services temporarily out of operation due to planned maintenance work.

Overall plan for the service work:

• From Saturday 22 April at 00.01 to Sunday 23 April at 23.59 AU IT, AU Finance & AU Buildings performs the service work.
• You can find a more detailed plan for the work here: https://serviceinfo.au.dk/da/ServiceWindow/Details/17

Upcoming service windows:

• Next service window: The weekend 9 and 10 of September 2023.

Future service windows during 2023-2026 can be found at https://serviceinfo.au.dk under Service windows.

Use the service portal to create new IT cases or follow the progress on ongoing cases.

Use phone 87 15 40 10 for acute IT-emergencies.

Oopening hours for showing up in the IT helpdesk and for calling can be found at the NAT-TECH IT website.

Max Ikkala Lerager is at the department Tuesdays 12-15.

Geoscience IT committee (including newsletters)

Geoscience IT webpages (including policyt for using e-mail and calendar)

AU IT (general service and support pages, with contact info)

Service portal (follow or comment on your IT cases)

Service information (messages about acute IT incidents or scheduled maintenance)

AU IT webshop (IT procurement, requires AU network)

AU IT security (including information about GDPR, phishing, data storage etc.)