{"id":236,"date":"2014-10-24T14:30:20","date_gmt":"2014-10-24T18:30:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/whysecurity\/?p=236"},"modified":"2014-10-24T15:47:18","modified_gmt":"2014-10-24T19:47:18","slug":"why-would-anyone-want-my-netid-and-password","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/whysecurity\/2014\/10\/24\/why-would-anyone-want-my-netid-and-password\/","title":{"rendered":"Why would anyone want my NetID and password?"},"content":{"rendered":"

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:<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

STOP. THINK. CONNECT?<\/h2>\n

Ever wonder why you<\/em> get all those messages asking you to \u201cConfirm your account now!\u201d or \u201cLogin today or your email permissions will be revoked!\u201d or \u201cVerify your password or else!\u201d or any number of other threats with a link that brings you to a site that\u00a0might<\/em>\u00a0be a UVM-looking page (or not)?<\/p>\n

The reason is simple: Your username and password opens a lock. Unlocking that lock\u00a0permits\u00a0the user onto the UVM network (from anywhere in the world), gives them\u00a0access to your email, and may\u00a0allow logins\u00a0to\u00a0other UVM systems with access to all the same information you have.<\/p>\n

And if you happen to have used the same username and password on other sites there could be money at stake (your bank? Amazon?).\u00a0Could\u00a0be that they can access other information about you that can be used to set up an\u00a0identity that looks, electronically, just like you and can open the door for\u00a0medical fraud, financial fraud, and other cyber crimes that can haunt you just as you are about to buy a house, get your first credit card, and snag you during a background check for that job you always wanted.<\/p>\n

Protecting something as simple as your NetID and password now can help you avoid these problems\u00a0in the future.<\/p>\n

We encourage you to STOP<\/strong>\u00a0before entering in your password on a site that was linked in an\u00a0email.\u00a0STOP<\/strong>\u00a0before reusing that same password on multiple sites.\u00a0STOP<\/strong>\u00a0before posting information about yourself that may hint at what your password is. (Fortunately, it’s\u00a0easier to change your password than rename your dog.)<\/p>\n

Then THINK<\/strong>\u00a0about the possible implications of this action: Would anyone really close your account because you didn\u2019t respond to one threatening email?\u00a0What are the consequences of not<\/em>\u00a0entering your username and password?<\/p>\n

Finally,\u00a0CONNECT<\/strong>\u00a0with the sender’s organization to\u00a0find out\u00a0whether the message was real or a scam.\u00a0Work with your bank\/retailer\/organization to have more options than a simple username and password combo to access their services.<\/p>\n

A little effort now can\u00a0help you avoid future mayhem, or at least reduce the\u00a0effort\u00a0necessary to undo the damage when your username and password are compromised.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Darcy Pientka, for the Information Security Operations Team<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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? Ever wonder why you get all those messages asking you to \u201cConfirm your account now!\u201d or \u201cLogin today or your email … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “Why would anyone want my NetID and password?”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1447,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-236","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","entry"],"featured_image_src":null,"featured_image_src_square":null,"author_info":{"display_name":"dpientka","author_link":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/whysecurity\/author\/dpientka\/"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/whysecurity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/236","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/whysecurity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/whysecurity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/whysecurity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1447"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/whysecurity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=236"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/whysecurity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/236\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":248,"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/whysecurity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/236\/revisions\/248"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/whysecurity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=236"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/whysecurity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=236"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/whysecurity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=236"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}