The majority of positions at SVA require employees to be on campus to interact and collaborate with faculty, staff, students, and others who make up the SVA community. If a public health crisis, weather emergency, natural disaster, or personal circumstance requires it, you may have to work from home for an extended period of time, depending on your position.
Security Tips for Remote Workers
There are things we can all do to protect ourselves from cyber criminals. Everyone that is working remotely is encouraged to carefully review these security tips.
IT is working to keep your information safe from cyber criminals. With the recent surge in employees nationwide working remotely, the National Cybersecurity Alliance has released a set of tips regarding online security practices to protect individuals and SVA from these security risks.
Think Before You Click. Cyber criminals are taking advantage of people seeking information on COVID-19. They are distributing malware campaigns that impersonate organizations like WHO, CDC, and other reputable sources by asking you to click on links or download outbreak maps. Slow down. Don’t click. Go directly to a reputable website to access the content.
Lock Down Your Login. Create long and unique passphrases for all accounts and use multi-factor authentication (MFA) wherever possible. MFA will fortify your online accounts by enabling the strongest authentication tools available, such as biometrics or a unique one-time code sent to your phone or mobile device. For your myID login, MFA is mandatory. We recommend using OKTA Verify or Google Authenticator apps, both available for iOS and Android.
Connect to a secure network and use a company-issued Virtual Private Network (VPN) to access any work accounts. Home routers should be updated to the most current software and secured with a lengthy, unique passphrase. Employees should not be connecting to public Wi-Fi to access work accounts unless using a VPN.
Remote Desktop connectivity (if provided) Only use remote desktop connectivity options that are approved by the College and SVA IT. Do not install remote connectivity software on your office computer without prior approvals.
Separate your network (optional) so your company devices are on their own Wi-Fi network, and your personal devices are on their own.
Keep devices with you at all times or stored in a secure location when not in use. Set auto log-out if you walk away from your computer and forget to log out.
Limit access to the device you use for work. Only the approved user should use the device (family and friends should not use a work-issued device).
Use company-approved/vetted devices and applications to collaborate and complete your tasks. Don’t substitute your preferred tools with ones that have been vetted by the company’s security team.
Update your software. Before connecting to your corporate network, be sure that all internet-connected devices ‒including PCs, smartphones and tablets ‒ are running the most current versions of software. Updates include important changes that improve the performance and security of your devices. Pay attention especially to operating system updates and patches (Windows 10, Mac OSX, iOS, AndroidOS).
Accessing Work Remotely
Go to myid.sva.edu and sign in with your username and password, followed by the multifactor authentication factor of your choice—the drop-down arrow allows you to select from the various factors that you configured during activation. From the SVA tab on the main dashboard, click on the web app you want to use. The system will log you into the application automatically in a new browser tab.
Available applications include:
- ● G-Suite applications: Google, Gmail, Calendar, Drive, Docs, Sheets
- ● Office 365 Desktop and Cloud: Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote, Teams
- ● Adobe Creative Cloud: Acrobat DC, Photoshop, Premiere, Illustrator, Lightroom, Fonts
- ● Resources Pages: website keeping staff & faculty connected to the SVA campus, downloadable forms and information from most SVA offices.
- ● Ellucian MyServices: employee information, various forms, benefits information, purchase requisitions, department budgets
- ● Canvas LMS: online courses and related materials
- ● Zoom: video conferencing used for online classes
- ● SVA Library databases
- ● LinkedIn Learning: Thousands of online courses accessible anytime, anywhere. Career building, creative courses, enhancing technical skills, various software training, marketing, social media, photography and film
- ● LastPass: Enterprise password manager and secure vault
- ● Grammarly Premium: Grammarly helps users compose bold, clear, mistake-free writing through an AI–powered writing assistant
- ● Sophos for Home/Personal use: enterprise (standalone) antivirus and antimalware software for personal devices
- ● SVA IT User Guides: helpful guides for many of the technologies supported by IT.
Mobile Applications
- ● GoSVA: Explore the campus on the go: access to academic information, facilities, department contacts, and campus maps; billing, SVA Library databases, Canvas LMS, Papercut, Campus Store, IT services and more. Visit go.sva.edu to get access to download links for iOS and Android.
Holding Meetings
The SVA community has access to the Zoom & Microsoft Teams platforms, allowing users to hold audio and video conferences.
All Zoom accounts require you to use your SVA credentials, the link can be found on your Myid home page. Additionally, all users are capable of hosting an unlimited number of 40-minute meetings. If you are trying to host a meeting for over 100 participants or longer than 40-min, please contact SVA IT Help Desk.
Zoom offers free video tutorials and training sessions to help you use the platform.
Note: Using Zoom requires your device to have a functioning microphone and/or camera. Consult the system settings on your device to verify your microphone and camera are working.
In addition, you have access to Google Apps that may help you and your team work remotely, such as Google Chat and Google Drive. These tools are helpful for communicating and collaborating on documents. To learn how to set up Google Chat and access Google Drive, review Google’s support documentation. SVA faculty and staff have access to LinkedIn Learning, which has thousands of online classes, including on how to fully utilize Google Hangouts and Google Chat.
Call Forwarding / Access to Cisco Voicemail
In the event employees are advised to work remotely, it is recommended that employees forward their office phones.
Staff and faculty members who have a Cisco IP Phone in their offices have access to Jabber. Think of Jabber as an extension of your phone. With Jabber on your iPhone, iPad or Android phone, you can make and receive calls as if you are in the office. Jabber can also use the camera in your computer or smartphone to make video calls with other Jabber users or with people who have video capabilities on their Cisco IP Phones. Jabber has text instant message capabilities but cannot record conversations.
Don’t have the Jabber client? You’ll still receive voicemail messages as an email attachment, so you’ll always know if someone has left you a message. If you’re on the road and need to let callers know you’re not in, use the Jabber application to access your voicemail, or use your mobile phone or a landline to set an extended absence greeting.
Call your campus phone number.
- ● When your voicemail message picks up, press *
- ● When prompted for your mailbox, enter the last four digits of your phone number, followed by #
- ● Enter your voicemail PIN. If you have forgotten your PIN, contact helpdesk and they will help you reset it.
- ● Follow the prompts to set an extended absence greeting, starting with Settings — option 4 from the main menu
Contact information
For help with myID, email or any other campus systems, go to technology.sva.edu or contact the SVA Help Desk at 212.592.2400 (option 1) or helpdesk@sva.edu. The Help Desk is available Monday–Friday, 9:00 AM–5:00 PM.
In the event of any cybersecurity or privacy concern or to report suspicious activity, please email privacy@sva.edu. If your device has been compromised, please email us from a separate device and shutdown (power-off) the compromised device immediately.