Stay Secure and Connected While You’re Away
With winter break around the corner, ITS encourages you to take a few simple steps to safeguard your devices and maintain uninterrupted access to campus resources—especially if you’ll be traveling or making changes to your tech. Please read through these key reminders so you can stay secure and connected before, during, and after the break.
Power Down and Unplug Devices Before You Leave
Before departing campus for winter break, take a moment to power off all electronic devices in your office, classroom, or residence. This includes turning off TVs, classroom projectors, and other audiovisual equipment to prevent unnecessary energy use and potential electrical hazards.
Additionally, unplug printers, monitors, desktop computers, and any other non-essential electronics (excluding laptops you may be taking with you). Unplugging these devices not only conserves energy but also helps protect against damaging power surges or outages that can occur during extended breaks.
Traveling Abroad? Request International Access
If you’re heading overseas, don’t forget to submit a request for international access before you leave. You can do this quickly by submitting an Account/Security Request ticket via the support portal. This will help you avoid any disruptions when logging in from outside the country and ensure you can access all necessary campus resources during your travels.
Setting Up Backup MFA Options
If there’s a chance you’ll get a new device over the break, make sure to add backup multi-factor authentication (MFA) options to your account now. This way, you’ll still be able to log in to University systems even if your primary device changes or is unavailable.
- For detailed instructions, refer to our Knowledge Base article: Setting Up Additional MFA Options which walks you through each step of adding backup authentication methods, such as a secondary phone number, authenticator app, or security key.
- Follow the steps to add at least one backup method before the break, so you’re prepared if you upgrade or lose access to your primary device.
Reset MFA Settings in Password Manager
Remember, you can reset your MFA settings at any time by visiting the campus Password Manager system at password.drake.edu. If you anticipate any changes to your devices or authentication methods, take a moment to update your MFA preferences using the steps noted above before the break begins.
Support Center Hours After Finals & During J-term
The ITS Support Center will be closed for winter break along with the rest of the University. However, the online support portal (service.drake.edu/its) remains available 24/7 for self-service and submitting requests. Full support operations will resume on January 5.
Support Center hours after finals are as follows:
- Closed on Sat., December 13 & Sun., December 14
- Mon., December 15 through Fri., December 19: Open 8 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.
- Closed from Sat., December 20 through Sun., January 4
During J-term, the Support Center will be open Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.
Regular semester hours will resume on the first day of spring semester, Monday, January 26.
Stay Up-to-Date With ITS Alerts
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To receive SMS outage notifications, make sure you’re signed up to receive text Bulldog Alerts; check your settings via myDrake. Then opt in by texting DrakeITSALERTS to phone 226787.
To see our full schedule of planned system maintenance, visit drake.edu/its/maintenanceschedule.
We wish you a safe and enjoyable break! For any urgent issues, submit them to us through the support portal and we’ll address them as soon as possible when campus reopens.
