A biweekly publication for faculty and staff

IT News: Office 365 Changes, Phishing Alert

September 25, 2013

Changes with Office 365 functionality

Information Technology is pleased to announce several changes to Office 365 including:
  • Mailbox size increases - Between now and Nov. 30, Microsoft is propagating mailbox increases for the campus's Office 365 tenant. Email capacity for all staff, faculty and students will increase from 25 GB to 50 GB.
  • Lync 2013 - The Lync 2013 client now works with the current Office 365 tenant. A new version features an improved mobile client for iPad, iPhone and Android devices that allows for audio and video conferencing in addition to instant messaging that was already been available in Lync 2010.
  • Recipient limit increases - The daily recipient limit for accounts has been raised from 1,500 to 10,000 recipients per day. Recipient rate limits exist to discourage users from sending large volumes of unsolicited commercial email, commonly referred to as spam. These limits protect our online service from becoming a source of spam and, as a result of these protections, keep our email messages flowing.
  • Office 365 Wave 15 upgrade - Within the next six months, Microsoft will upgrade Office 365 to Wave 15. We will provide further communications when Microsoft provides us with a specific upgrade date, but the most significant changes will likely be to the look and feel of the Outlook Web App (OWA) client. Information about some of the new features available in the new OWA client can be found here

'Phishing' Alert

​In case you missed it: IT issued an alert warning users of a recent phishing email purportedly coming from "University of California" noting that the user’s account is blacklisted. The provided link takes users to a page instructing them to enter their username and password, however, it is not a UC Merced website. If you receive this email, do not click on the link, just delete the email.
 
UC Merced will never send users requests for their UCMNetIDs and/or passwords. Users are encouraged to visit the security section of the IT website to learn more about phishing attacks and similar social engineering methods for collecting user data. If you're unsure whether a message could be a phishing attempt, contact the IT Help Desk at helpdesk@ucmerced.edu or 228-HELP.