E-mail changes affect security

Pitt students, faculty and staff need to make a minor adjustment to security settings if they… Pitt students, faculty and staff need to make a minor adjustment to security settings if they want to continue third-party e-mail clients, like Microsoft Outlook or Thunderbird. Last semester, representatives from Computing Services and System Development sent an e-mail saying that they were ‘enhancing the security of the University’s IMAP e-mail environment on Nov. 22, 2008 … You must make these changes prior to Nov. 22, 2008, so that you can continue to use your e-mail client with the University’s IMAP e-mail service.’ Individuals who received this e-mail could follow links and instructions in their e-mails to make any necessary changes. CSSD director Jinx Walton said, ‘Prior to the change, secure connections to IMAP were possible, but optional. The change put into place makes secure connections mandatory.’ Security changes protect the usernames and passwords of those who use third-party clients, said Walton. If people who use third-party clients don’t make the proper changes, it’s possible that ‘someone could intercept a person’s username and password as they are sent from the user’s computer to the IMAP system,’ she said. The changes in the security system encrypt information. This is beneficial because if e-mails are intercepted, they are unreadable and unusable, said Walton. Walton said that all students, faculty and staff who use third-party e-mail clients should have received an e-mail about the security changes, but some students who do use third-party e-mail clients said that they never received the message. Jake Kastrenakes, a sophomore who connects to his Pitt e-mail using Mac Mail, said, ‘I never got the e-mail, but I’m still able to receive messages without problems.’ The e-mail sent out included links specific to each third-party client with step-by-step instructions explaining how users could configure their e-mail services.’ It also included a link with help sheets.’ The changes affect only those who use the IMAP mail system and have programs on their personal computers such as Thunderbird, Outlook and Mac Mail, said Jinx Walton, director of Computing Services and Systems Development. ‘ ‘Only 8,000 University affiliates use this particular system,’ said Walton. ‘So, only these people received the e-mail.’ Several students said they don’t use IMAP and therefore weren’t affected by these changes. Another student, Drea Chamberlain, said she has her e-mail forwarded to a Yahoo account. People who access their e-mail using Webmail or UNIX Timesharing Service PINE don’t need to worry about security changes, as CSSD has already put security in place.