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CIO's Bits and Bytes
By Dr. Ron Bergmann, Acting Associate Vice President of Information Technology/CIO
Greetings and welcome back! As many of you know, we have been focusing on information security in a series of workshops that included a
demonstration of an actual system being hacked. I am hearing
positive feedback from those who attended and many of you
who could not attend but wanted to ask for more information on
this vital topic.
Information security is an area that we should all be concerned about, since we are all members of a network
of information that is provided to us through our
campus computing assets. As members we have a
responsibility to one another to practice responsible computing
in order to prevent insecurities from occurring that
might affect the entire network infrastructure. We
are stewards of information and data, and in many cases,
the data that we are maintaining is our own! I like to refer
to safe computing habits as being a good citizen of
the network, ensuring the confidentiality, integrity, and
availability of data and information to all members of the CSUDH community.
At the University level, the Office of Information Technology
implements multiple strategies to protect
our computing and network assets. Firewalls, spam filters, antivirus programs, antispyware
programs, and patch management systems are deployed at several layers of
the network as a measure of protection. We also have strong
password authentication activated for our systems, and we require that
those passwords be changed regularly. These solutions can be looked at
like purchasing insurance: you might wonder why we have so much,
but are very happy to have it when viruses and hack attempts have
been avoided.
Many of you ask me what you can do to protect yourselves and
the campus network both on the campus and at home. One of the major
things to do on campus is to ensure that you are changing your passwords
regularly, not sharing them with
anyone else, and keeping your computers patched with the antivirus up to date.
Also, if you are in a position to view confidential information, this
information should never be stored on
personal computers or any other storage media without the
expressed written permission of the Chief Information Officer.
At our home the same approach to information security applies if
you are interested in protecting yourselves. Many of us use the
campus virtual private network (VPN) to access files and information
directly from the campus. Although this is an encrypted line, we really need
to approach this with security in mind. As we are accessing the
campus network directly from home, we can expose the campus to
unwanted viruses and other security issues unless we are practicing safe
computing on our home machines.
What does safe computing at home entail? I think most
information security officers would agree that there are several things that we should do to secure
our home computing environment. Generally the list includes:
- Install and use anti-virus programs;
- Keep the system patched with the most current patches;
- Be cautious when reading and downloading attachments that are contained in e-mail;
- Install and use a firewall program;
- Back up all of your important work;
- Use strong passwords, and not the same one for all programs;
- Use common sense when being asked to provide personal information on Internet sites or through e-mail solicitation;
- Install and maintain a hardware firewall if you have the knowledge;
- Use encryption and access control on all wireless networks.
The list does seem to be lengthy, but ensuring the protection of your information and identity is probably more important than completing any item on this list.
There are some very useful Internet sites that you can visit to become more familiar with information security at work and at home. Some sites provide free downloads for anti-spyware and anti-spam. Following are a few that might prove helpful to you.
Sites to visit if you want to learn more about keeping your home computers secure:
Here are some sites that offer free virus and spyware protection:
If you have any questions on information security, or campus technology in general, do not hesitate to contact me through my office at 310.243.3723. I hope you have a great semester!
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