Recently, Clark University has partnered with LastPass, a password management application, to help students, staff, and faculty on campus protect their passwords and keep their accounts secure. There are multiple ways to access LastPass on your device or phone for ease of use.  

Why should I use LastPass?

We’re often told to create strong, complicated passwords and avoid reusing the same ones for different sites and apps in order to make our online lives more secure. Since most of us have so many accounts for different purposes, however, it can be difficult to create and remember so many passwords. 

Fortunately, LastPass can store all your passwords securely, so you don’t have to worry about remembering them. This allows you to use unique, strong passwords for all your important accounts (rather than using the same password for all of them, which you should never do). 

In addition, many password managers are helpful because they can: 

• synchronize your passwords across your different devices, making it easier to log on, wherever you are, and whatever you’re using 
• help spot fake websites, which will protect you from phishing attacks 
• let you know if you’re re-using the same password across different accounts 
• notify you if your password appears within a known data breach so you know if you need to change it 
• work across platforms, so you could (for example) use a single password manager that would work for your iPhone and your Windows desktop 

How secure is LastPass?

Clark’s implementation of LastPass has been designed to maximize the level of security, to the highest possible. Multiple departments, including ITS, rely on LastPass to protect credentials. The combination of LastPass and its integration with your existing Clark credentials in Microsoft, required password complexity, and multifactor authentication offers enhanced security of your content within LastPass. This architecture requires both LastPass and Microsoft be compromised to access our Vaults.   

Is there a difference between letting my browser save my passwords and letting LastPass save them? 

Yes. Because “very few people ever log out of their browser profile,” passwords stored in your internet browser such as Chrome, Safari, or Firefox are left “decrypted and available” most of the time, according to LastPass employee Amber Steel. With a password manager, “encryption and decryption happen locally on the device” and therefore provide an extra layer of security.  

How can I learn more?

Click here to check out the Lastpass page on the ITS website! 

Lesser known than its older siblings such as Word, Excel, and PowerPoint, Sway joined the Microsoft family in 2014. Since then, it has grown substantially into an intuitive and unique app perfect for newsletters, announcements, portfolios, and presentations.  Sway is an online app that can be accessed through your Clark Microsoft account.  

How do I access Sway? 

1. Log into you.clarku.edu
2. Under Web Services, click Email
3. Click on the grid of dots in the upper left corner of the screen
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4. From the listed apps, select Sway. If you don’t see Sway in this list, click Explore all apps at the bottom of the pane.
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How do I create a Sway?

Once you open the Sway app in your internet browser, you can create a Sway based on a template, or view tutorials to get started.

What makes Sway unique?

Sways are designed to be viewed online, unlike most documents or presentations, so no software is required to open, edit, or view them. Each Sway has a specific, stable, and user-friendly link you can share with students or campus partners so they can follow along or revisit your presentation, article, or report later on. Best of all, it’s easy to embed media like images, videos, links, and documents within the Sway itself.   

How can I learn more?

Check out this sample Sway from ITS below, or Book an appointment with the technology training specialist!

Around campus, your colleague or classmate might mention that they’re saving their research to OneDrive. You might get automated emails from SharePoint regarding collaborative documents that you’ve posted in Teams. All of these tools are Microsoft platforms are related to the cloud, but what do they do? How do they interact?

Teams, OneDrive, and SharePoint are all connected, but they are not the same thing. Each has different functions and interactions with one another, so it’s helpful to think of these tools as different parts of a whole, like the building below.

OneDrive is like your office: it is your personal space to store documents, notes, research, and organize as you please. No one can enter your office unless you invite them in. It’s ideal for your own projects, and maybe collaborating with a few colleagues, but it’s not suited for larger meetings or projects.

Teams is like a conference room where you regularly meet with different campus groups you’re a part of, whether that is a department or a club. Here, you can iron out ideas, collaborate on new projects, and get updates related to ongoing group goals. You might bring some of your own work, such as a proposal, picture, or agenda, into this conference room.

SharePoint is the university hall where both your OneDrive office and your Teams conference room live. It keeps the internet and lights running in both places, but you mostly keep your work within your own office or department space rather than in the other rooms and closets around the building.

So, when people say, “It’s on SharePoint,” they usually mean, more specifically, it’s been shared in OneDrive or Teams, similar to how someone might tell you to “come see me in Carlson” when they really mean their office in Carlson. On rare occasions, such as for university events or programs, you might need to use the whole building (or, digitally, the SharePoint platform), but these cases should be discussed with ITS.

More questions? Reach out to techtraining@clarku.edu to learn more!