Cybersecurity 101: Protecting the Digital Footprint in the Digital Age

Source: Own Illustration
In today’s digital age, our lives are increasingly intertwined with the online world. From social media profiles to online banking accounts, we leave a digital footprint that can be vulnerable to cyber threats. Protecting our digital presence and maintaining online privacy is more important now than ever. In this blog post, we’ll go over the basics of cybersecurity and provide practical tips for protecting your digital footprint.
WiFi News – Part 3: New Root, Old WiFi

Source: Freepik
On May 23, 2023, the server certificate of our authentication server “radius.rz.rwth-aachen.de” had expired. For that reason a new certificate was implemented in the system. In the first post of this blog series we informed you about this.
Now a larger change is coming up: In the future, the new certification instance GÉANT/TCS will be used and replace DFN-PKI Global. As a consequence a new Radius certificate and certification chain will be used. This migration will take place on August 1, 2023.
Eduroam will be affected with regard to registration and configuration. The exact background and what you have to do, to continue using eduroam, we will explain in the following blog post. Read the rest of this entry »
RWTHcontacts – The New and Leading Directory

Source: Freepik
RWTHcontacts has replaced CAS CAMPUS and is the new leading Directory of Organizations and People at RWTH Aachen University.
RWTHcontacts presents the information of the Directory of Organizations and People furthermore makes it accessible worldwide. In the Directory of Organizations, organization administrators can maintain the functional addresses and contacts.
In the Directory of People at RWTH, organization administrators can maintain the official addresses and contact data of the people at their organization. In addition, it’s possible to create objects (e.g. rooms) and structure their common display using headings. The corresponding functionality of CAS Campus has thus been replaced. Read the rest of this entry »
Everything at a Glance – The IdM Homepage
Are you already familiar with the homepage of Identity Management (IdM)? You can find all five IdM applications there at a glance:
- PasswordReset
- Selfservice
- ConnectMe
- Role Management
It’s quite convenient to remember only one link, isn’t it? The best thing to do is to add the link directly to your bookmarks. By the way: You can log in to all applications with the RWTH Single Sign-On.
In today’s article, we’ll tell you what’s behind IdM and the five applications that fall underneath it.
Archive Migration – Project Completion

Source: Freepik
“It is done.” These are the words we can now say about the “Archive Migration” project. After more than two and a half years, the last data from the legacy system was migrated to the digital archive or Coscine last week. Now, with the completion of the project, we can review the time and evaluate the progress.
Tips & Tricks for Microsoft Word

Source: Freepik
Microsoft Word is a word processing program that is used daily by various users. From schools to individuals to CEOs, Word is in regular use. Nevertheless, not all users are familiar with its multiple features. In this blog post, we will share with you five helpful tricks that will make using Microsoft Word easier and more enjoyable.
Please note that Microsoft Word can be used in different ways: There is a web application that you use in the browser, as well as a local installation of Microsoft Word that you can find as a program on your PC or laptop. The range of functions is slightly different.
The tips and tricks mentioned below refer to the local installation of Microsoft Word, which is included in the Office package M365.
H2M – More Control and Efficiency in Systems with Heterogeneous Memory

Source: Freepik
In the DFG-funded project “Heuristics for Heterogeneous Memory” (H2M), RWTH Aachen University and the French project partner Inria are jointly developing support for new memory technologies such as High Bandwidth Memory (HBM) and Non-Volatile Memory (NVM). These technologies are increasingly used as additional memory in HPC systems alongside the common Dynamic Random Access Memory (DRAM). HBM offers higher bandwidth than classic DRAM but is also much smaller. NVM provides larger capacities but is slower compared to DRAM. The different characteristics and capacity limits thus raise the question of how systems with heterogeneous memory can be used efficiently and in which memory data should be stored.
WLAN News – Part 2: eduroam and certificates

Source: Freepik
The Wi-Fi network eduroam is available on the entire campus of the RWTH Aachen University. If you have already configured eduroam on your mobile devices and chosen an automatic connection, your devices will connect to eduroam in the background. This happens as soon as your devices detect a network with the name eduroam in the vicinity.
Behind a secure connection to eduroam lie certificate structures that guarantee this security. But how exactly do these processes work? In the following blog post, we hope to provide answers to these and other questions.
Experience Report – ZKI Training Working Group

Source: Freepik
From May 9 to May 11, 2023, the ZKI training working group met in Ulm. Of course, we from the IT Center of RWTH Aachen were also represented! What the ZKI training working group is, which activities this working group has and what this year’s meeting was about, we have summarized for you in this blog post.
QR Code Attacks
QR codes have become increasingly popular in recent years and are now used in almost all areas – whether in advertising, retail or public spaces. Especially since the Corona pandemic, QR codes have gained a lot of importance. For example, they made contact tracking in restaurants or contactless ordering in the catering industry possible. Many users appreciate QR codes because of their simplicity and the time they save, as they can be easily captured with a smartphone. At the same time, however, QR codes can also pose a threat to IT security. In this article, we’ll explain what you should always keep in mind when using QR codes.




