October is Cyber Security Awareness Month

October is upon us already and that means that we are observing Cyber Security Month again here at Clemson University.  You will begin to notice banners, posters and flyers posted around our computing facilities on campus and we will be sending out e-mail notices concerning events that might be scheduled to promote this event. We will also be having a day of data cleansing where we will be hosting a shred truck on Oct 16th from shred360.com to shred any old paper statements, floppy disks or hard drives, thus preventing others from getting the data you no longer need.  Look for emails about time and location of this event or check back here for more information.

National Cyber Security Month is in its ninth year of promotion and is supported by most federal and state government organizations.  The primary sponsor is NCSA or National Cyber Security Alliance.  Outside of state and local governments that are participating, other prominent agencies that support this month of events are the Department of Homeland Security, Microsoft, and SANS to name a few. 

During this month long event, information technology organizations around the nation including Clemson University will be spreading the word to their users about how to stay safe while computing online all the while helping to collectively secure our nations cyber infrastructure.  The purpose of this event is raise the users level of internet awareness and how to promote a safe online environment both in your work place and at home.  Though many believe the internet is harmless, with the growing amount of information and communication that relies heavily on the on the internet it has become a hotbed of activity and not all of that activity is good. 

Other Useful Sites Promoting the Event

StaySafeOnline.com- NCSA's main site supporting NCSM

Department Of Homeland Security- DHHS's website for NCSM

Microsoft- Microsoft's NCSM site

Protect Your Computer

Clemson's Office of Security and Privacy feel that if you will do three simple things prior to surfing the internet that you will be that much safer while online.

• Update your Operating System software.  Turn on your automatic updates or do it manually by clicking on 'Start' then 'Internet Explorer' then 'Select Tools', and 'Windows Updates'. Perform any updates it finds and Reboot.
• Update whatever Virus Protection you are using whether is McAfee, Norton or some other.  Best to turn on automatic updates so that you don't have to remember to do this.

• Use a local firewall, most operating systems come with one built into your desktop.

Protect Your Privacy and Information

• Create and use strong passwords
• If you suspect problems with any accounts, change your password.
• Be suspicious of emails or links within emails that you are not expecting, many times these are used to take you to a site that might install software that you are not aware of.
• Look for security measures such as https or a padlock in your browser when making financial transactions, and make those transactions with reputable businesses.
• Never trust email as a secure form of communication, do not send personally identifiable information or passwords over email to anyone even if they ask for it.  Request a different method of getting it to them.  Phishing scams like to use this method.
• Limit what personal inforomation you display on social sites such as Facebook and Myspace.
• Shred or destroy information at rest if no longer needed (papers, statements, hard drives, etc)
• Never share your account or account information with others.

Other Safe Practices from StaySafeOnline's Top Tips Site