Last month was National Cyber Security Awareness Month.  To keep you thinking about security, this is the third of four tips based on current hot topics at the university. Being “Smart” With Your Smartphone Chances are if you have a smartphone you know what a useful tool it can be and chances are even greater …

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Executive Summary [read time: approx 1.5 min.] Passwords by themselves are no longer sufficient for protecting your information and UVM’s information from everyday attacks. UVM is moving to require multi-factor authentication (MFA) to protect the most critical information at first, and all of the university’s online assets in the long run. This means that logging …

Continue reading “The Password Is Dead: Long Live…Anything Else!”

October is National Cyber Security Awareness Month. This is the first of four timely tips based on current hot topics at the university. Email – take it or leave it? Email is a useful tool for communication but is also the most popular way that problems can be easily brought into our University Community. Some …

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Nationwide, many taxpayers have attempted to file their federal and state income tax returns, only to find out that criminals have already filed fraudulent returns and claimed refunds.  The Vermont Department of Taxes explains:   Refund fraud occurs when a criminal uses stolen identification of a taxpayer, including Social Security Number, to create a phony return.  Often the criminal …

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IT Colleagues, If you find yourself challenged to help those whose IT needs you support understand the importance of strong passwords, how to choose one, or why to use unique passwords, this month’s OUCH! newsletter may be useful.  You can download it from securingthehuman.org [1]. The newsletter also covers two-step verification or multi-factor authentication (MFA) …

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IT Colleagues, Protecting the huge variety of information the University collects and manages is everyone’s responsibility.  For those of us with IT roles, people whose IT needs we support look to us to provide safe and secure ways to manage information.  The need is particularly critical when it comes to protecting personal and private information …

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You’ve probably had your UVM Net-ID locked because someone stole your password and started doing horrible things using your account, like sending spam or launching Internet attacks.  Enterprise Technology Services Account Services can get your account unlocked (call them at 656-2006) — but there are some critical steps you should take right away to protect …

Continue reading “Someone Stole My UVM Password; Now What?”

National Cybersecurity Awareness Month is an annual opportunity for folks like us to encourage folks like you to adopt a simple, three-point approach to keeping yourself and your information safe online: STOP. THINK. CONNECT? With each phishing campaign that’s conducted against UVM’s students, faculty, and staff, the Information Security Office receives dozens of notifications from astute members of …

Continue reading “Visiting Questionable Websites (or, Using Your “Internet Hazmat Suit”)”

National Cybersecurity Awareness Month is an annual opportunity for folks like us to encourage folks like you to adopt a simple, three-point approach to keeping yourself and your information safe online: STOP. THINK. CONNECT? As weird as it might seem, there are physical aspects to securing information about you: Before your data are stolen or corrupted, there’s a need …

Continue reading “Physical Information Security for Everyone”