NU ITS encourages you to always use University-owned devices to conduct University business. Additional installation instructions can be found below.
To download Cortex XDR by Palo Alto for personal devices, go to your campus' SharePoint folder. While ITS does not provide direct support for personally owned devices, it is highly recommended that all f aculty, staff and students download a free, U niversity - provided personal version of Cortex for use on home computers. How can I protect my personally owned computer?
ITS will not collect any information about users from this software.
Cortex XDR is intended to protect you and the information on your devices.
Is it safe for me to have this software on my computer?
You may also reach out to your campus Help Desk for assistance. If you have not opt-ed into endpoint management, or if you are not sure your device is using the centrally provided tools, please reach out to your IT support team to discuss your options. If your c ollege or d epartment is using the centrally provided e ndpoint m anagement tools, your devices should already have Cortex XDR installed.
You will know that you have Cortex on your devices by the small shield icon – with a green checkmark on Windows or interlocking circles on macOS – in your desktop taskbar Note that on July 1, 2020, Palo Alto Cortex XDR replaced Symantec as the University's antivirus solution for endpoint protection. Cortex is an extended detection and response app that uses real-time detection to respond to malware and other sophisticated attacks while preventing malicious software from running on devices. Palo Alto Cortex XDR is more advanced than a traditional antivirus solution. This software is required on all University endpoints, including desktops, laptops and servers.
To keep University endpoints protected against viruses and other malicious software, Endpoint Management Services will automatically install on your devices the antivirus software Palo Alto Cortex XDR. How will Endpoint Management keep my devices safe? A big focus of Endpoint Management Services is Endpoint Protection, which means keeping University devices safe from malicious attacks. * CUIT-managed-computers are automatically configured with virus protection software.Endpoint Management Services provides centralized management of University desktops, laptops, and mobile devices. This will continue to be supported until August 2020. At that time, Symantec will be automatically uninstalled and Malwarebytes will be installed for you on your CUIT-managed machine. As always, please approve updates to your computer as soon as you’re able! If you would like to have SEP installed on a University-managed computer (managed by a department outside of CUIT*), please have your IT support person/team contact CUIT Security to purchase Symantec licenses. It should not be installed on servers or Columbia-owned/managed equipment. The Symantec installer was created for students' personal workstations and laptops. Students should uninstall Symantec, and visit CUIT's Malwarebytes for Students page to download our new endpoint security protection software. Note: Symantec for students was discontinued on Saturday, December 21st, 2019. Symantec Endpoint Protection (SEP), formerly known as Symantec AntiVirus, is a virus and spyware scanning program developed by the Symantec Corporation.