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Internet Security at UNT - What You Can Do
By Dr.
Maurice Leatherbury, Associate Vice President for Computing and
Chief Technology Officer, CITC
National and local press outlets
continue to report frequent Internet security breaches at academic
institutions around the country, to the point that universities are
being accused of being irresponsible about protecting their students and
staff. I'm sure that you share my resolve to keep UNT's name out of the
negative press that accompanies security breaches, so I want to let you
know what UNT is doing and more importantly, what you can do to help us
prevent security breaches at our university.
We have a number of defenses against security breaches here at UNT
(this list isn't comprehensive but includes our major tools):
- Virus protection is (or should be) installed on each computer on
our network to prevent attackers from gaining access to those
computers.
- We've stopped using social security numbers as identification
numbers for students, faculty, and staff, reducing the risk of
exposure of that important ID to anyone who does manage to break into
computers here.
- We scan network-attached computers for weaknesses in their
configurations, such as their not being patched with the latest
software versions or their having known "malware" running.
- We watch network traffic for suspicious activity such as social
security numbers being sent in clear text off campus, or the complete
directory of a computer being sent to someone off campus. When we do
see something suspicious, we quickly work to investigate the computer
sending that information.
These measures have been effective in the past year, but attackers
are increasingly clever in devising means by which to bypass our
defenses. Therefore, we are enlisting the aid of everyone at UNT to help
us protect our community from security breaches. Here are three simple
steps that you can take to help:
- Keep your computer physically secure by locking your door when you
leave your office, by locking your laptop in the trunk of your car
rather than leaving it on the seat when you're away from your car, and
doing the other ordinary things that you do to protect your purse or
your wallet. If you transfer sensitive information to a USB drive or a
CD-ROM, etc., be extra careful about exposing the device to theft or
loss.
- Protect your computer with a screen saver that requires you to
enter your password after a period of inactivity (generally about 10
to 20 minutes.) This is important because if you leave your office
open and then step away, anyone can come in and view your screen. If
you inadvertently left a student record up on the screen, for example,
the student's information could then be compromised.
- Don't store personally identifiable information such as social
security numbers, credit card numbers, or bank account numbers on your
computer unless absolutely necessary! Many of us have old personnel
appraisals with SSN's on them, or old class rosters with SSN's still
lingering on our desktop computers. Move those files to
better-protected network drives or better yet, delete the personally
identifiable information from those files or delete the whole files
themselves.
More security tips and information about information security can be
found on UNT's Information Security web site at
http://www.unt.edu/security/.
Your network manager
can also help you secure your computer if you have questions.
Thomas Jefferson has been quoted as saying that "eternal vigilance is
the price of freedom." Today, he might well say that eternal vigilance
is also the price of Internet security. Please continue to help UNT stay
vigilant - and free from security breaches.
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