Author Archives: Janet Eaton, ITS Information Assurance
Resetting a forgotten UMICH (Level-1) password can be easy—but only if you’ve set up account recovery information ahead of time. When you save your account recovery information—a non-university email account and/or your mobile phone—we then know where to send your password-reset code in case you ever forget your password. To make this process easier, ITS will begin gradually… Read More »
A Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attack took down a residence hall network switch at the University of Maryland (UMD) over spring break 2018, but it could have been a lot worse without the collaborative threat information sharing partnership of U-M and other universities. 90% of attack traffic blocked “If we hadn’t been using our shared threat intelligence,… Read More »
You have an important university email to send, but how do you craft it so it looks like the official, trustworthy, communication it is? In other words, how do you keep people from thinking it is a phish? Email users are rightfully suspicious of unsolicited email, but that can sometimes cause them to ignore or delete your important,… Read More »
You and all members of the U-M community are invited to a General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) Open Forum to learn more about U-M’s approach to GDPR compliance. Sol Bermann, university privacy officer and interim chief information security officer, and David Grimm, associate general counsel, will share U-M’s approach to GDPR compliance, demonstrate the processes and tools developed… Read More »
Cryptocurrency mining is best avoided. Don’t do it yourself, and don’t let attackers use your devices to do it. Cryptocurrency mining is a computationally intensive process of validating digital currency transactions that allows the miner to earn transaction fees and digital currency. Illicit cryptocurrency mining has displaced ransomware as the number one cyber security threat, according to industry… Read More »
A cross-university working group has been working for months to prepare U-M for the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which goes into effect on May 25. To date, these efforts have included developing a risk-based GDPR compliance strategy, making important decisions regarding key requirements of the regulation, developing key GDPR processes and tools, and making recommendations for an… Read More »
Beginning Monday, May 7, Google is rolling out a new security feature that requires users to verify their identity when using the Chrome browser to log in to Google at U-M. The information below explains what to expect with the new Google Chrome verification process. When you log in to your Google at U-M account using the Chrome… Read More »
If you forget your UMICH (Level-1) password and want to reset it yourself, you can do so only if you previously saved account recovery information at UMICH Account Management. That’s because the university needs to know where to send you a password-reset code. Most new students and employees now provide account recovery information as part of self-serve uniqname setup, but many of… Read More »
Two new standards clearly define responsibilities regarding vulnerability management and vendor security and compliance, and updated and expanded guidance to help you meet those responsibilities is on Safe Computing. Andrew Rosenberg, interim U-M vice president for information technology and Michigan Medicine chief information officer, recently approved these two new standards: Third Party Vendor Security and Compliance (DS-20). When… Read More »
Later this spring, a new option for account recovery will be added to UMICH Account Management. Currently, if you forget your UMICH (Level-1) password, you can receive a password reset code by email (as long as you have provided a non-UMICH email address for that purpose). Information and Technology Services (ITS) is working to give you the option… Read More »
Setting up single sign-on for a new service? The university’s preferred solution, Shibboleth, has a new option that makes it work with additional services. Shibboleth at U-M can now be set up to use either of these two industry standard protocols: Security Assertion Markup Language (SAML). For most services, SAML will be your best choice. Most services that… Read More »
There’s a new address for reporting phishing emails at U-M: ReportPhish@umich.edu. When you use this new address, you send your phishing report directly to the Information Assurance (IA) staff members who focus on protecting the university community from phishing. They can quickly check your report and then add that information to the anti-phishing tools used to block malicious… Read More »
The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which takes effect May 25, 2018, will affect organizations worldwide, including universities. The regulation expands personal privacy rights for European Union residents. It will take some time for organizations around the world to sort through, understand, and determine the implications of the GDPR requirements, as well as figure out how best to… Read More »
Beginning February 24, you will be able to reset your UMICH (Level-1) password yourself without having to remember answers to your security questions. Before you can reset your UMICH password online at UMICH Account Management, your identity must be verified. For several years that has been done through the use of pre-set security questions and answers along with… Read More »
You can deploy Passwordstate in your unit under a U-M license that covers use by U-M faculty, staff, and students on all U-M campuses. Passwordstate allows teams of people to access and share sensitive password resources and is typically used for managing elevated and administrative passwords, as well as passwords for smaller proprietary systems, such as research databases.… Read More »
Before you get rid of any device you have used to work with, store, or access sensitive university data, you must make sure it is securely erased (sanitized). This keeps university data—and your personal information—from falling into the wrong hands. University-owned devices Sanitization and disposal of MiWorkspace devices is handled by MiWorkspace staff. Others who are responsible for… Read More »
Shortened URLs, such as those from bit.ly and goo.gl, make it easy to type in a web address quickly but hard to tell where your web browser will actually take you. Before clicking a shortened URL, check for the full URL. Most URL shorteners—including those used at U-M—include a preview feature. In addition, there are several URL checkers… Read More »
The ITS Identity & Access Management team (IAM) is exploring how the university could begin moving away from use of cosign authentication and toward more modern, flexible, supportable alternatives. Cosign has been the university’s secure single sign-on web authentication system for more than 15 years. Originally designed at U-M, the open source software was once widely used across… Read More »
There’s a new address for reporting phishing emails at U-M: ReportPhish@umich.edu. Previously, people were asked to report phishing to the IT User Advocate at abuse@umich.edu, Information Assurance (IA) is now asking that these reports go to ReportPhish@umich.edu instead. We’ll use the new address for the UM-Ann Arbor campus, but Michigan Medicine is going to hold off on rolling out… Read More »
It takes the entire U-M community to help protect against cyber threats. That’s the message on posters sent to Security Unit Liaisons at the end of November. The 11 by 17-inch posters stress that IT security is a shared responsibility, and we all have a part to play. In particular, they urge people to secure and protect any… Read More »