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Dear Readers,
This "damned virus" continues to impose restrictions on us. At least now, we can hope that the end of the pandemic is getting closer with the vaccines that are now available. The question is when will the end finally come?
We have one topic related to Corona also in this issue of inside|out. ITS Multimedia Services demonstrate how, in close coordination with the Academic Services and LET, they helped to provide the technical means for online teaching in emergency operations.
In addition, we are looking beyond the pandemic and show how old ETH magnetic tapes are professionally and irretrievably destroyed. As a new service, we now enable all ETH employees to obtain digital certificates for computers and email signing. And I am particularly pleased that together with a relief organisation, we have succeeded in equipping a school in Dakar, Senegal with computers that were no longer of use for us at ETH.
Warm regards,
Dr Rui Brandao
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| Behind the scenes: The ETH may look deserted, but lectures are live, online, offline and "always on" thanks to the multimedia employees of IT Services (Safety first, so this time the picture does not include any ITS employees). (Image: ETH Zurich/Nicola Pitaro) |
Flexible emergency operations in teaching |
Maintaining and supporting teaching in the spring and autumn semesters of 2020 required great flexibility from everyone involved. The Production & Distribution group was able to make its contribution with a high level of commitment and a flexible and scalable video management system. Colleagues in the Infrastructure and Support group provided the necessary equipment in the lecture halls, including document cameras everywhere they were needed. For the spring semester 2021, further improvements and adjustments were made.
About a year ago it was mainly Zoom that shaped teaching during the lockdown. In the autumn, however, there was initially a combination of in-person education and live streaming, as well as recordings for those who were absent. Within a very short time, ITS MMS had to set up comprehensive infrastructure and prepare for a tenfold increase in volume with an unchanged number of employees. In addition, the infrastructure adjustments in the lecture halls needed to be made in the normally rather quiet summer. No sooner had the joy of an extremely successful start to the semester subsided than it was time to switch to online mode again. The Zoom Importer came at just the right time: developed especially for ETH, it merges the lecture hall recordings with those from Zoom, and is also available to other universities as an open-source product.
Switching to Zoom yet again also had its advantages, as it allowed Multimedia Services to start preparations for spring semester 2021 as early as 2020. Further information can be found in ITS Blog.
Olaf A. Schulte, Group Manager Production & Distribution (ITS MMS) |
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| IT Support in Dakar, Senegal |
| IT Services donated 40 computers for setting up an IT classroom in Dakar-Senegal. Pictures of the first "Computer Science Lessons" and background information on why the gift was made can be read in ITS Blog. |
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| Behind the scenes: The media is shredded and only bits of tape and plastic granules from the cartridges remain (Safety first, so this time the picture does not include any ITS employees). |
Create data > save data > delete data > dispose of data |
At ETH Zurich, large amounts of data are stored, backed up and deleted at the end of their life cycle. IT Services attach great importance to the professional, environmentally friendly and certified disposal of storage media. Information security is essential and imperative. This also includes the secure destruction of data on data carriers.
A great deal of data is produced at ETH Zurich. After all, this data is the most important product that arises from the various core processes. That is why it needs special protection, from creation to destruction. Storage also includes data backup, which IT Services have been offering as a central service since 1992. However, the growth of data also requires the continuous renewal of the data backup infrastructures. Tape robots, tape drives and also media are subject to constant development in order to efficiently secure these enormous amounts of data (data backup up to 250 TB per day).
For the life cycle to be fully compliant, it must also include the definitive deletion of the data. IT Services take care of this as well, in compliance with ISO 27001. Certified deletion of the data by destroying the storage media completes the data’s life cycle. IT Services also see to the recovery of raw materials and the professional disposal of unusable ones. More pictures of data disposal in the ITS Blog.
Dr Tilo Steiger, Group Manager Storage Services (ITS SD) |
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| Informatiktage Programme online |
| The 2021 event will take place from 12 to 16 April and will focus on offers for school and kindergarten classes as well as teachers. IT Services offer the programmes "IT-Fitness für Lehrpersonen (IT Fitness for Teachers)" and "Gesichter in der IT und ihre Wege (Faces in IT and their journeys)", which allows IT experts to talk about themselves and their journeys (registration required). At department D-INFK, participants can also dive into and immerse themselves in the world of computer science. |
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| Behind the scenes: The faces behind the new certificates are Wolfgang Sichler and Mike Jähnke, both from ITS BD, and Hans-Peter Dennler, ITS PPF (Safety first, so this time the picture does not include any ITS employees). |
PKI Certificate Management |
IT security at ETH Zurich can be increased by using digital certificates. Cyber attacks using email as a communications channel (phishing, spoofing, CEO fraud and malware) continue to increase. This threat can be reduced by signing and encrypting emails. Certificates can also be used for the reliable authentication of devices on the network, which denies unauthorised access and creates more transparency within the network.
IT Services recently started offering the new PKI Certificate Management service. This service includes QuoVadis email certificates for signing and encrypting emails. For secure identification of and encrypted communication with web servers, TLS/SSL certificates can be obtained from QuoVadis and ETH Zurich. Machine certificates from ETH Zurich (for reliable authentication on the ETH network) support Windows, MacOS and Linux devices that are managed by both the IT support groups and the users themselves. The service includes the procurement, storage, administration and partly automated roll-out of certificates to the certificate storage of the user and device. More information on the ETH website.
Wolfgang Sichler, Senior System Engineer Windows Services (ITS BD)
Mike Jähnke, Senior System Engineer Windows Services (ITS BD) |
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| IT Knowledge Base |
| IT instructions for ETH members can be found in Confluence with information about IT services and numerous step-by-step instructions. |
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