IT News

IT Upgrading Wifi Access Points Across Berkeley Lab

April 10, 2026

Beginning last month, the IT Division has started upgrading more than 1,000 Wi-Fi access points across most Berkeley Lab buildings to deliver faster speeds, greater capacity, and stronger security. The upgrades will improve the wireless network to keep up with the Lab’s current demand and allow many more laptops, phones, sensors, and lab instruments to Read more »

Druva inSync Licensing Update

November 12, 2020

The Druva inSync service will be changing effective January 1, 2021. To maintain the current service model and pricing of $57 annually, the data volume allowed to be backed up will be limited to a total data volume of 1TB per user. For users that exceed 1 TB of data volume being backed up, the… Read more »
Update Chrome Now

October 22, 2020

In October, Google confirmed a serious Chrome security issue. This security vulnerability is a memory management error that can enable the execution of malicious code on a user’s computer, see Google reveals Chrome zero-day active attacks. IT recommends that users immediately update Chrome by restarting it. Users should verify they are running at least version 86.0.4240.111.… Read more »
The New Google Chat is Live for Berkeley Lab

October 1, 2020

All LBNL users should now be able to see the new Chat features in Gmail by refreshing Gmail on their Web browsers and updating their mobile applications. Remember that chat notifications on your mobile device are disabled until you install and authorize the new Google Chat app on your device.For more information on using… Read more »
Moving to Google Chat on September 30th, 2020

September 25, 2020

We’re excited to share that we’ll be transitioning everyone at the Lab to Google’s next-generation collaboration product, Google Chat. Chat has a modern UI, team rooms that support better team collaboration,, bots to help you be more productive, and integrates with Gmail so that your chats can be accessed directly from Gmail. Beginning on September 30th,… Read more »
Active Directory User Account Password Policy Change

September 23, 2020

IT Support Services in collaboration with Cyber Security have published new guidelines on Active Directory (AD) user accounts and password policies, see Active Directory Account Policy. All AD user accounts will require a password change every 365 days.Beginning November 1, 2020 all AD account passwords that are set to “Never Expire” including service accounts, will… Read more »
[Completed] Saturday, September 12, 2020 – Multi Factor Authentication Upgrade

September 14, 2020

On Saturday, September 12, 2020, between 10 PM and 12 AM Sunday, IT will be performing an upgrade of the servers that handle Multi Factor Authentication (MFA) for the Lab. While we expect limited to no interruption to the MFA service during this period, there is a potential for outages lasting as long as 30 minutes. … Read more »
Avoid Cyber Blocking, Address Windows Server 2008 and 2008 R2 Now!

September 2, 2020

As of January 14, 2020 Microsoft stopped support of Windows Server 2008 and 2008 R2. Computers running Windows Server 2008 and 2008 R2 will no longer receive security patches. It is highly advised that all systems running Windows Server 2008 be upgraded immediately. As of September 15, 2020 all Windows 2008 servers will be blocked unless registered for… Read more »
Critical Windows Server Updates Must Be Installed

July 21, 2020

DHS has issued Emergency Directive 20-03 on this vulnerability which can be viewed here: https://cyber.dhs.gov/ed/20-03/. (Article quoted below for posterity)Here is a description of the vulnerability:https://portal.msrc.microsoft.com/en-US/security-guidance/advisory/CVE-2020-1350 (Article quoted below for posterity)Please note that while the vulnerability only affects servers with DNS services, Cyber is required to report on the patch status today (July 20, 2020) and… Read more »
Windows 10 Lifecycle and the Need to Update Your System Regularly

July 9, 2020

By Tammera E Campbell on 2020-07-09T15:35:45Z Microsoft has taken a different approach to updating Windows 10, as they release major builds twice a year. Each build will have an end of lifecycle and will cease to be supported as defined by their End of Service date. Users should know that they must regularly commit to Read more »
Avoid Cyber Blocking, Address Windows 7 Now!

June 22, 2020

As of January 14, 2020 Microsoft stopped support of Windows 7. Computers running Windows 7 will no longer receive security patches. Most machines are able to upgrade to Windows 10 Read more »
Apple Remote Management Service Abuse

April 16, 2020

Berkeley Lab Cyber Security has discovered bad guys exploiting Apple’s Remote Management service to conduct reflected denial-of-service (DoS) attacks. In order to protect Berkeley Lab computers from participating in this hostile activity, we require all users to disable Apple Remote Management Service. Read more »
Update Your Windows System NOW!

March 13, 2020

On March 12, 2020 Microsoft released a warning to immediately update and reboot Windows systems due to a Microsoft SMBv3 Client/Server Remote Code Execution Vulnerability. Users are advised this is an extremely dangerous vulnerability and MUST be addressed right away.Users should know that if their systems are not patched appropriately and an attack is launched… Read more »