“My account has been hacked!”
We hear this regularly, but in almost every case
that is not an entirely true statement.
Hacking involves a person using technical methods to find a way around the security of systems and expose data that was supposedly secure. Yes, such security breaches happen and when they do they make headline news. But when a single personal account is compromised, “hacking” is usually not the reason. In almost all cases of individual account compromises, we are simply fooled into giving away our private data or account credentials to a scammer. It isn’t very high tech.
Hacking involves a person using technical methods to find a way around the security of systems and expose data that was supposedly secure. Yes, such security breaches happen and when they do they make headline news. But when a single personal account is compromised, “hacking” is usually not the reason. In almost all cases of individual account compromises, we are simply fooled into giving away our private data or account credentials to a scammer. It isn’t very high tech.
Protect yourself.
- Take the time to learn about “Phishing” and “Spear Phishing”. This is something that anyone using technology should be doing. It is like being a pedestrian and learning how to safely cross the street, we just have to do it. Check out the “Valparaiso University Phishing Awareness” video at YouTube. It is a VERY good video done by a Google Apps school.
- Avoid randomly clicking on unfamiliar web links that pop up in a search result or in an advertisement.
- Don’t use a single password for all of your accounts. When you do, one mistake compromises ALL of your accounts!
New security threats.
- Nearly all of us are carrying a smart phone now which is, in essence, a small computer. And like all computers these phones can be infected with malware. We need to be using the same security techniques with our phones as we do with our computers:
- keep the software on your phone updated
- install software to help protect from malware. There are some decent options out there for free. One unfortunate employee recently had spam spewing from their e-mail account and it appears the source of the problem was malware on their Apple iPhone.
- As we all become more inclined to use the internet for shopping we have to remember to never use our Harding passwords for our other online accounts (Amazon, WalMart, etc.) We know it's a bother to keep up with more than one password but please reserve your Harding password strictly for Harding use. Consider using tools like LastPass to manage your passwords.
Please
ensure that your Harding password is different from other passwords you may use for your personal accounts.
What's new in office computing?
New update service
We are slowly implementing a new service that installs updates to a wide array of software on Windows computers. Languard is scheduled to work overnight, as are most anti-virus scans, so you will want to leave you computer on overnight to avoid the having these things run during the day while you are trying to work. We plan to evaluate the Apple version of the same product soon.Secure Off Campus Connections
Harding now has a solution which will help protect your data when you must use your Harding laptop from an off-campus network. Fortinet creates a secure connection to the campus network which not only protects any sensitive data you might need to access, but also gives you access to your M: drive and other departmental storage. Over the next few months we plan to install it on all Harding laptops.
New software
New software from Microsoft and Apple is being tested to make sure it works will with our campus tools. Soon we will be looking for volunteers to help us test Windows 10, Mac OS 10.11 (El Capitan), and Office 2016 for Macs. Once these are determined to be safe we will begin offering upgrades and training for those who would like to upgrade. FYI Office 2016 is now available for iOS devices and it's free!The material for this entry was written by Jim Baird and John Nunnally. Thank you Jim and John.
