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Cybersecurity Awareness Month is here! Get resources and tips for staying cybersafe

October is Cybersecurity Awareness Month. TU’s Office of Information Security participates in this collaboration between government and private industry to raise awareness about digital security and empower everyone to protect their personal data from digital forms of crime. This year’s themes are:

• Recognize and report phishing. It’s important for everyone to think before clicking on a link or attachment and know how to spot red flags. Get a suspicious email in your TU account? Forward it to phishing@towson.edu, then delete. Visit towson.edu/phishing for tips on recognizing and reporting scams at TU. See the Federal Trade Commission’s recommendations for handling phishing in personal accounts.
• Using strong passwords and a password manager. TU encourages use of a password manager but recommends doing research before selecting one to store your credentials. See the National Cybersecurity Alliance article to learn more about password managers. Remember, no one at TU will ever ask for your password.
• Enable multi-factor authentication (MFA). This process requires that you prove you are you when logging into an account. At TU: Faculty and staff are already required to use Duo MFA when accessing TU resources. Ongoing updates to Duo are part of an overarching effort to modernize the Single Sign-On (SSO) process, enhance security capabilities, improve the digital experience and streamline systems. Personal use: MFA is used on most individual financial and health-related systems but anyone can set it up on their own accounts. See the National Cybersecurity Alliance article to learn more about using MFA for personal accounts.
• Keep software up to date. Updates fix general software problems and provide new security patches where criminals might get in. The Office of Technology Services sends regular security updates to TU computers and you can schedule updates for your personal device through it’s settings. See the National Cybersecurity Alliance article to learn how to update personal software and boost your cyber protection.

See more resources and learn more at towson.edu/securityawareness. Questions? Contact the OTS Faculty/Staff Help Center or Student Computing Services.

Faculty and staff: Be on the lookout for the annual required Information Security Awareness training. Starting Oct. 2, full-time employees will be receiving an email from SecurityAwareness@towson.edu with a link to access the training.

Categorised in: General

This post was written by Weldon, Jennifer