Good afternoon, everyone!

Today I want to let you let you know about a current non-threat that you may find to be of interest and a current phone scam. I also want to remind you again of the upcoming change to the sign-in experience that is scheduled for tomorrow, 05/27/2026,as well as updating Outlook.

Current Non-Threat

• University of Tennessee Weekly Digest
  • I have been asked about emails with the subject University of Tennessee Weekly Digest.
  • The content had to do with the UT AI Innovation Lab discussions and was from Mikhael Loo.
  • I have been receiving this Digest for over a year and I know Mikhael, who is heavily involved with AI at UT, so I knew these were valid emails.
  • Since I was asked why someone would be receiving this Digest I decided to go straight to the source and ask Mikhael, who gave me some great information.
  • Mikhael explained that these are not official newsletters or part of a listserv but is part of the Viva Engage Platform.
  • He explained that Viva Engage is like an internal UT social media network but entirely secure within our Microsoft 365 tenant.
  • Each week Viva Engage compiles a summary of the most popular public posts across the University.
  • Microsoft sets user notifications to “on” by default for these weekly summaries.
  • So, if you didn’t explicitly join the AI Innovations Lab, you are seeing the information because the Microsoft algorithm thought you might find the University’s popular content interesting.
  • You can customize your inbox by clicking the notification/subscription settings at the bottom of the Viva Engage email or go to Viva Engage where you will login with your UT credentials.
  • When you join a community, you will get direct updates whenever new information is shared instead of relying on the weekly algorithm.
  • Please check out Viva Engage and thanks for the information, Mikhael!

Current Threat

• Phone Scams
  • I have been notified of some recent phone calls to people across the Institute.
  • The caller ID will show University of Tennessee, but the number is not a UT phone number.
  • When the call is answered the caller says they are doing a survey for the University of Tennessee.
  • The calls are not being made to work phone numbers but are being made to UTIA staff members’ home phone numbers.
  • The calls are being made during non-work hours, such as over the weekend.
  • These calls are in no way associated with UT.
  • The scammers are spoofing phone numbers, even if they are not UT numbers.
  • The scammers are using UT as the display name in hopes you will think the call is from someone with UT.
  • If you get one of these calls, please do not give the caller any information at all and please hang up.

Important Information

• Tomorrow is the Day for the New Sign-In Experience! (Reminder)
  • UTK’s Office of Innovative Technologies (OIT) will be updating how you sign into many of UT’s applications that use UT’s Central Authentication Service (CAS) or Single Sign-On (SSO).
  • These applications include:
    • Adobe Creative Cloud
    • Canvas
    • DASH
    • LinkedIn Learning
    • MyUTK
    • Qualtrics
    • RingCentral
    • Software Distribution Site
    • VolCard
    • VolLink
    • VPN
    • Zoom
  • Currently you are using your NetID, but beginning May 27, 2026, you will use your UPN (user principal name), which is typically NetID@utk.edu for UTK/UTIA/IPS faculty and staff or NetID@vols.utk.edu for UTK students.
  • There may be times when “@utk.edu” will not be correct for some people who may have started at another campus so OIT created a way to Look up your UPN online if you are unsure.
  • You will continue to use your NetID password.
  • In addition to the login name change, the sign-in page is being updated, too.
  • This is a fairly easy change; it will just take a little time to get used to it since we have used only the NetID as the username for so long.

• Outlook Help Needed (Reminder)
  • In the last few newsletters, I have been asking for help finding the users who have older versions of Outlook.
  • The ability to properly report scams by using the red Report button helps the new phishing detection system get updated so that it will hopefully stop erroneously saying that actual phishing emails are clean.
  • This button also helps with the phishing simulation exercises that are sent to users by UTK’s OIT by letting them know users are aware of what to do if they receive phishing emails.
  • While the Report button is an important part of this process, it is not the only part.
  • Another important factor to having the right version of Outlook is having one that is supported, patched, updated, etc.
  • Office 2016 and Office 2019 reached end of support on 10/14/2025, while Office 2021 ends 10/13/2026.
  • Office 2024 and Office 2026 (Office LTSC accounts) are still going to be supported by Microsoft for now, but I don’t have end of support dates for them.
  • Once you have Microsoft 365 Apps for Enterprise, updates will automatically download and install regularly and add new features are added monthly.
  • Office LTSC versions receive security updates only and do not receive new features after the launch.
  • It is preferred that you use Microsoft 365 Apps for Enterprise so that you can take advantage of the special features that allow for more collaboration, better productivity, and consistency across the UT System.
  • If you are not using Microsoft 365 please send me an email and I will create a trouble ticket so the appropriate IT person can help you with the update.
  • However, if you are with CVM, I will let CVM Computer Support know that you need help since they have their own ticketing system.
  • It is very important that we always have the most updated versions of all apps.

Thank you so very much for all you do! Please don’t hesitate to let me know any time you have a question or concern!

Sandy