Email sent on 9/2 to Staff & Faculty
Update on ProtectUs: System-Wide Cybersecurity Initiative
At the start of the Fall 2024 term, the Office of Information Technology (OIT) announced the ProtectUs: System-wide Cybersecurity Initiative as our campus’s response to the UC Office of the President’s cybersecurity investment mandate. As we approach the start of the Fall 2025 term, we would like to provide an update on our progress and what remains to be completed for full compliance at UC Merced.
The mandate highlighted five key requirements applicable to UC Merced, as of our May 28th email only these two remained:
✅ Ensure identification, management, and vulnerability assessment of all computing devices connected to university networks.
As of Friday, July 11th all UC Merced buildings have had their networks enhanced to meet this requirement. When you connect to our wired network, eduroam, or CatNet you will be required to authenticate using your UCMNetID and password. Additionally we have begun to deploy enhancements to the UC Merced VPN in order to further secure systems that meet our highest data protection levels. With these new configurations and enhancements, the UC Merced network has segmented into three network access levels.
⚠️ Deploy and manage Endpoint Detection & Response (EDR) software on 100% of University-owned computing assets.
OIT has continued to enroll devices into our Device Management Program on a self-service and appointment basis throughout the summer. For those who have enrolled your devices, thank you. Your device is compliant and no further action is required.
In our efforts to reach 100% compliance, OIT will begin sending Device Ownership Verification emails to Staff, Faculty, and Graduate Students who authenticate to the network on devices that are not enrolled in the Device Management Program. We will begin sending these notifications and further updates in the coming weeks.
In the meantime, please continue to enroll your university owned devices before Device Ownership Verification launches. You can achieve this in one of two ways:
- Apple devices can be self-enrolled by following the guides on the ServiceHub.
- Enrolling a Windows device currently requires an in-person appointment with the OIT Service Desk. (Before the verification notifications begin. we plan to offer a self-enrollment option for Windows users as well.)
- If you need support enrolling your device, you may schedule an appointment with the OIT Service Desk.
We want to thank the campus community and implementation partners for their continued patience and support as we close out the remaining tasks related to the UCOP mandate. With these few remaining tasks nearing completion, we remain on track to achieve compliance by the end of September.
Sincerely,
Nick Dugan
Vice Chancellor and Chief Information Officer
Nick Hansard
Assistant Vice Chancellor and Chief Information Security Officer
