Gone are the days when being “online” meant sitting at your desk surfing the Internet from your personal computer. Today, thanks to wireless technologies, smart phones, tablet computers, and game consoles, you can be connected to email, social media, music, text messages, photos, banking sites and more any time, anywhere!
With this increased connectivity comes increased awareness and responsibility for protecting not only yourself, but also your neighbors in cyberspace. That’s why the National Cybersecurity Awareness Month (NCSAM) was created. Since 2004, the National Cyber Security Alliance has set aside October as a month to highlight ways to stay safe online.
Freed-Hardeman University is proud to join of dozens of corporations, government agencies, and educational institutions in this effort. The resources below will help you to protect your Internet-connected devices, identify potential risks, and stay safe online.
What NCSAM Means to FHU
Students
There are many opportunities to use your computer or phone during your time on campus. You’ll be checking email, doing research online, connecting with new and old friends on social networks, even talking to your professors in online classrooms. But any time you connect to the campus network, you must realize that what you do online not only affects you and your computer, but also has the potential to affect every other computer on the network. Keep your computer’s software up to date. Install virus protection and keep it current. Use good judgment when giving out personal information. When you stop and think before you connect, you and the university are less likely to fall victim to a security violation, data breach, or system problem.
Faculty/Staff
As a faculty or staff member you have many opportunities to interact with students. You might be a chemistry instructor, a financial aid counselor or an admissions representative. Adding to your list of responsibilities may seem overwhelming, but you want your students to have a great experience on campus. One way you can help them is to make them aware of their responsibility in cyberspace.
Nearly everyone on campus uses the Internet every day. Faculty may be involved in important research. Students will use it for class projects and social networking. Payroll staff will transmit financial numbers to banks and payroll processors. Everyone has a role to play in the safety and security of the campus network. When you educate your students about their role in cybersecurity and their responsibility as network citizens, you make the University’s network – and the Internet – a safer place to travel.
Patch Those Macs!
Until recently, many Mac users felt that they were safe from the viruses and trojans that plagued Windows users. This false sense of security kept them from regularly updating their system software and antivirus.
Those days are over.
In the last few weeks an outbreak of the "Flashback" trojan has hit Mac users hard. The malware was so named because the initial infection came disguised as an Adobe Flash update to vulnerable Macs. Upwards of 600,000 users were reportedly infected within the first few weeks, and even though the numbers are falling, new variants of the malware have been detected at least weekly since the exploit was discovered.
What Can You Do? First, update your system software. Mac has released several operating system patches, along with a cleaning tool, that will patch a vulnerable system and even remove the infection if you've already been attacked. If you don't know how to use Apple Software Update, check out the tutorial "Updating Your Mac and iPhone" at http://www.fhu.edu/tutorials/faculty/macAndiPhoneTutorials.aspx
Second, install a Mac antivirus program. Sophos AntiVirus is free to home users and was one of the first A/V products to detect and clean the Flashback trojan. You can find Sophos Antivirus for Macs at http://www.sophos.com/en-us/products/free-tools/sophos-antivirus-for-mac-home-edition.aspx
Third, if you think you may be infected, or if you have any problems updating your software, please feel free to call the HelpDesk at x6222.
Facebook Security Settings
Facebook is a popular way for spammers and scammers to spread their dastardly wares. Just this week (11/14/2011) an exploit in Facebook was found that allowed a gore-and-porn scam to run rampant through the social network, posting extremely offensive content to users’ Facebook walls.
What do you do if you think you might be the victim of a Facebook hack? Here are a few suggestions to help you clean up the mess and protect yourself from further hacks.
Facebook Security Settings
Denial-of-service malware campaign
Today (January 24, 2012) the United States Computer Emergency Response Team (US-CERT) issued an alert that the hacker group Anonymous was stepping up attacks on government and private sector targets. These denial-of-service attacks typically are carried out by computers that have been infected with malware. They are “zombies”, subject to the commands issued by hackers.
How does this affect you?
Make sure that your computer isn’t being used as an attack agent. As always, install a virus scanner on your computer and keep it up-to-date. In addition, don’t open email attachments unless you know they’re valid, even if they’re from friends. And finally, be on the alert for phishing scams. Your private email and login information is very valuable in carrying out attacks.
If you believe you’ve already been infected with a Trojan or virus, feel free to contact the HelpDesk at extension 6222.
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