Following a reported vulnerability with the Java Tools, Oracle are now recommending customers to upgrade to the latest release of the Java suite used (http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/topics/security/javacpufeb2012-366318.html)

Mozilla, publishers of Firefox, have subsequently blocked the Java Plugins for the versions considered at risk (http://blog.mozilla.com/addons/2012/04/02/blocking-java/ and https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/blocked/p80). You may have seen the following appearing in one of your session:

If you use applications such as ICIS, Discoverer, Blackboard or others which use the Java Plugins, you will find that the application will not work with Firefox until you have upgraded to the latest version of the Java Plugin.

ICT is looking to have all college Windows machines upgraded to Java Plugin JRE 1.6.0_31 as soon as possible, but this will take time, and we are monitoring the risks associated with the use of older JRE plugins.

In the meantime, you may want to consider one of the following options to enable you to continue using the application:

1 - Use Internet Explorer – Recommended option as this should not require any change to be made to your system’s configuration

2 – Download the latest version of the 1.6 plugin manually (this can be found at http://www.java.com/en/download/inc/windows_upgrade_xpi.jsp, but you would need to have administrative rights to do so, and would need to ensure the version is stating to be the Recommended Version 6 Update 31 (http://download.oracle.com/otn/java/jdk/6u31-b05/jre-6u31-windows-i586-iftw.exe) or any version of Jave 1.6 above 31).

Important note on 15/06/2012: Java 1.7 is not compatible and will not work with ICIS, so please only use versions of JRE from 1.6.0_31 up to 35.

ICT is looking to implement this upgrade to all College Windows machine as soon as possible. We recommend to wait until this is done unless there is a particular reason you need to use Firefox instead of Internet Explorer. If you cannot wait, please contact the ICT service desk to have the upgrade carried out manually by your local ICT engineers. Please note that installing the latest version of JRE 1.6 yourself could lead plugin installation corruption, and in some cases, might require for ICT to assist with the machine’s installation, or rebuild the install.

We also advise you clear your Java cached files after upgrading from an earlier version of the plugin after a successfull plugin upgrade. To do so, follow the instructions at http://www2.imperial.ac.uk/blog/ictfaq/2011/01/13/i-have-been-asked-to-clear-my-javajre-cache-how-do-i-do-this/

We are aware of issues with Exporting from ICIS into Excel using Internet Explorer, if you experience this issue, please follow the instructions available at http://www2.imperial.ac.uk/blog/ictfaq/2011/11/21/problem-export…ffice-20072010/

 

This entry was posted on April 3, 2012 at 2:29 pm and is filed under (no category), Blackboard, ICIS, ICIS Applications, Security. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

 

 

One Response to “Problem accessing ICIS in Firefox following security threat on Java SE Plugin”

  1. April 4th, 2012 at 2:42 pm ICT FAQ-Helping you to work with IT at Imperial College. Problem Exporting to Excel from ICIS with Internet Explorer and Office 2007/2010 says:

    [...] Browsers like Firefox (http://www.mozilla.org/en-US/products/download.html) or even later version of Internet Explorer save the file locally rather than try to open the file directly from the server, so in essence, all other methods operate on the same principle of saving the file to the local computer first, then opening it. Please ask your local support team if you would like to use Firefox. Please note however that Firefox now requires the latest version of the Java Plugin to work with Professional Oracle forms used by ICIS (see http://www2.imperial.ac.uk/blog/ictfaq/2012/04/03/problem-accessing-icis-in-firefox-following-securi...) [...]

Leave a Reply