Welcome to the DOM IT Services Fall 2009 newsletter.

Each quarter we put together this newsletter to keep the Department of Medicine informed about the latest in IT policy, projects, security and more. We have a lot of fun writing these articles, and we get most of the ideas from you, so please let us know if there's something you'd like to see. You can also see past issues of our newsletters, in case you enjoy this one so much that you want more!

This is the second of our furlough-reduced newsletters. Hopefully you still find these articles useful, but now more than ever we would like to hear from you about how we can better focus our efforts. Read on!

Yes, I realize that this is the umpteenth time you've heard how important information security is. Yes, I know that I'm running the risk of turning this important message into so much background noise in your busy day. It bears repeating that information security breaches cost you money! There, I feel better.

I'll make you a deal: no more security breaches and I'll stop talking about it. Fair? In the mean time, we've put together some simple information to help you work more safely. And I'll keep sending those scary emails every now and then.

Plus, hope is on the horizon: full disk encryption for the most vulnerable devices!

Beginning this month we will be encrypting all of the UCSF-owned laptops in the Department of Medicine. Once encrypted, if a laptop is ever lost or stolen we only need to notify the UC Police and move on with our lives. We've posted lots of information about the project and what it means to you, and more is being posted every day.

As part of the encryption project we have arranged deep discounts from Dell and Apple on their most popular laptops, and we'll be recommending new USB flash drives with built-in hardware encryption (on which we've also negotiated great pricing). More on that in the coming weeks.

You need to get 8GB of confidential data from your office to home and back. Too big to transfer over your slow internet connection at home, too big to email, and too risky to store it on your home computer. What do you do? Put it on an IronKey! IronKey makes the world's most secure USB flash drives, using military-grade hardware encryption in a rugged, waterproof enclosure. Kenton gives us the low-down on these impressive devices.

By the end of November exempt staff, faculty and non-faculty academics who accrue leave will be in HBS, the new campus timekeeping system. In 2010 some non-exempt employees will join HBS in March, and the rest of all non-exempt employees (not just those who accrue) will transition to HBS in September.

Ed walks us through the change, and looks forward to putting the TIME Portal to bed!

This month we profile one of our favorite customers: Nancy Campanile, manager of the Electrophysiology Service in the Parnassus/Mount Zion Division of Cardiology.

Our staff profile this month spotlights Kristan Beynon, one of our talented and helpful Programmer/Analysts. Kristan supports some of the Department's most demanding customers!

Furloughs, projects and deadlines are eating into your time, until it feels like there's no way you can get everything done. How do you make sure you're being as efficient as possible, without overdoing it? Abby has five tips for maximizing your productivity. I'm taking notes....

When you're at work you have access to IT services for things like backups, disaster recovery planning, and information security help. (I know, I promised to tone it down. I just couldn't help myself.) But what do you do at home, or if you don't have any IT services at work? Leverage your home network to create backups for all of your computers free of charge, or send your files to the cloud for a pittance. Kristan walks us through the benefits of CrashPlan, an easy and bulletproof backup system.

Wireless networks have become ubiquitous - you can connect to the internet from anywhere you find a signal. Commercial wireless networks found in hotels, coffee shops and conference centers are professionally installed and managed. However home wireless networks can be problematic due to electronic interference, architectural limitations, density of nearby wireless networks and a variety of other problems. Many of these problems can be resolved by creating a favorable environment around your wifi router, so that it can give you a reliable wireless signal. Andrew walks us through how to do just that.