New: Appointments Available for Statistical Computing Consulting
The SSCC's Statistical Computing Specialists are becoming increasingly busy, so in an attempt to minimize waiting time and see as many people as possible they are now making time available for appointments outside of their usual consulting hours using the UW's Scheduling Assistant. Appointments are ideal for those with questions that will likely take a long time to answer and those who must travel to the Sewell Social Sciences Building and want to make sure someone will be available. Click on the following links to make an appointment with Doug Hemken or Russell Dimond.
During regular drop-in consulting hours, if others are waiting we may invite you to make an appointment if we cannot completely answer your question after 20-30 minutes. This will allow us to help as many people as possible.
This Month's SSCC Training Opportunities
In addition to next week's Multiple Imputation class (which is almost full with 40 people enrolled), we also have classes this month on Stata Programming, Matlab, and NVivo. Visit our training page for details and to register.
If you're interested in Multiple Imputation but didn't register for the class, the class materials are being posted in the SSCC Knowledge Base.
New Version of Webmail Coming Your Way
On October 17, we will be rolling out a major update of Webmail. Some new features we think you will find of interest include:
- New polished theme (classic theme is available in Settings)
- Drag and Drop file attachments
- Easily archive your read mail with the Archive button
- Three column layout
Tip: Delete any Email That Asks for your SSCC Password
"Phishing" is the process of trying to trick you into revealing your password or other credentials by pretending to be the entity that gave out those credentials, and unfortunately it's very common. This week many of you received a phishing message about a Windows update.
You should be immediately suspicious of any email that asks you to reply with your password or go to a web site (linked in the email) and enter your password. Real email from the SSCC will always contain the personal name of an SSCC staff member, never a generic term like "ssc.wisc.edu team."
Unfortunately there's nothing that can be done to stop people from sending phishing emails. Thus there's no need to report such messages to SSCC staff--we normally get copies of the message addressed to us anyway. Feel free to just delete them.
Policy Reminder Regarding Encryption of Sensitive Data
University of Wisconsin-Madison policy specifies that restricted/sensitive data that is located on a laptop or desktop computer at the University MUST be encrypted (except for specified exceptions).
Any researchers who are working with IRB/RSP approved restricted data contracts who store data on their desktop or laptop computers must encrypt their data. If you are working on restricted data that has been put on a restricted Linux or Windows network drive, and your contract specifies that your output goes to that network drive, you do not need to encrypt your data. If you are working on restricted data on a removable hard drive in one of the SSCC cold rooms (Rm. 2403 or 2404 Social Science), you do not need to encrypt your data.
The University policy also discusses "sensitive" information kept on laptop or desktop computers. Visit SSCC's Resources for Working with Sensitive Data web page for links to University policies on sensitive data.
Questions about the mechanics of encryption should be addressed to SSCC's Help Desk. Questions about whether your laptop/desktop restricted/sensitive data needs to be encrypted should be addressed to Data & Information Services Center (DISC).
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