November 2026 - Food Chain IT Updates
Cluster & Department Updates
Aggie Experts
Faculty, if you are maintaining your information on Aggie Experts, SiteFarm is now able to synchronize the information in Aggie Experts to selected profile fields on each participating SiteFarm 'Person' page; keeping your information consistent . SiteFarm is the campus hosting service for the department and cluster sites. Aggie Experts does pull some information automatically.
If you are happy with your information in Aggie Experts, please submit a ticket to Food Chain IT so that we can enable synchronization for your 'Person' page on our sites.
Campus Updates
California will begin taxing Software January 1st 2027.
Software and cloud services may be subject to sales tax; please read the article from the UCD Finance team for more information.
Email List Audit and Cleanup Begins This Fall
Following a change in campus policy Sympa mailing lists are being audited for compliance. IET will contact owners of lists that may not comply with the updated requirements during the coming months.
- https://iet.ucdavis.edu/technews/email-list-audit-and-cleanup-begins-fall
- https://ucdavispolicy.ellucid.com/pman/documents/view/347/active?
Ally accessibility tool is now available in Canvas
Ally provides instructors with private accessibility scores and guidance for improving course materials. Students can also use Ally to download many course files in alternative formats, including audio, EPUB and tagged PDF. Ally can not replace formal accommodations administered through the Student Disability Center.
Upcoming faculty training sessions are scheduled for November 12, November 30 and December 8.
How the IT Industry Might be Affecting You This Month
Vanderbilt University Suffers a Cyber Attack - Nov. 09
At time of writing, not much information is available aside from what Vanderbilt University has released via their news site.
Many websites go down after Critical Security flaw is found in PHP - Oct. 21
PHP is a programing language that is estimated to run 70% of websites on the internet. The security flaws (named PHP2shell) allowed attackers to control a server hosting a PHP website. This vulnerability was discovered with the help of LLMs and after disclosure attackers used LLMs to go after a high percentage of PHP sites.
The important lesson is that technical complexity and obscurity are becoming weaker protections. If a system is reachable from the internet, automated tools can find it, and LLMs can help attackers use more advanced methods and/or adapt their methods to less-common software and configurations.