The new HPC cluster Marvin, inaugurated on October 20 2023, will have to wait a bit longer for their first regular users. After the climate technology completely failed on the night of November 30, the possible cause for the malfunction is investigated. Luckily, the Supercomputer has not been compromised functionally, it was possible to fix smaller technical defects instantly so the computer is restored and ready for use. However, until the causes have been fully clarified and appropriate measures have been taken to prevent another malfunction, Marvin is currently only running in a very limited test mode to protect the hardware.

Since the beginning of November, Marvin had been in an operating mode in which individual "power users" were able to put the machine through its paces with extensive simulations. These tests were carried out to the full satisfaction of the operations team until the accident on 29/30 November, and synthetic and application benchmarks also showed that the performance of the computer even exceeded expectations.

The registration, which was originally planned for December 2023, has therefore unfortunately been delayed accordingly. "The fact that commissioning is stalling so close to completion is not only disappointing to future users. The HPC team at the HRZ and the HPC/A-Lab would also have liked to celebrate the end of a very intensive year with the completion of the project," says Dirk Barbi, HPC team leader.

The new Outlook app share passes on passwords and sends secret e-mail data with Microsoft.

The new Outlook, currently available as an update for Windows 11, does  a few things different than the old one: Those who try it share sensitive login data and mails with the Microsoft cloud. Data protection officers are worried about the recent developments. Ulrich Kelber, federal officer for privacy protection and freedom of information (BfDI), consider the news about the assumed data collection by Microsoft to be alarming. The BfDI has asked the Irish privacy protection officer, who is responsible for Microsoft in the EU for a report.

We encourage all Outlook users to read this article by Heise. While external mail providers have long been advertising to include mails from other mail accounts, in exchange for login data, there has been a recent increase in mail providers that cause login data and mails to be sent and saved by these providers. As the mail clients are programs which are installed on your own computer or mobile device, such leakage is usually less obvious. Therefore, we would like to take the opportunity to warn against use of such programs and services. Their use is not in line with the HRZ-user guidelines (cfl. § 3 Abs. 2 Ziffer 5). Up to date (december 2023) we know the following mail client applications to show this kind of behaviour:

• Outlook-App for Android and iOS,
• "New Outlook for Windows" (included in version 23H2 for Windows 11),
• Windows Mail (predecessor of the "New Outlooks")
• Outlook for macOS (when using IMAP with CloudSync),
• Edison Mail,
• Newton,
• BlueMail (under certain conditions on mobile devices),
• Spark and
• Xiaomi Mail.

Our IT Helpdesk is there for you between Christmas and New Year's Eve.

Between public holidays, i.e. from December 27th to December 29th, 2023, the following special opening times apply: The IT helpdesk offers you on-site support, via support form and telephone from 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.