For the past 14 years, Information Assurance (IA) has engaged UM-Ann Arbor students, including medical students, with an online quiz designed to raise awareness about IT security issues and promote good IT security practices. This year’s quiz resulted in the second highest completion rate yet! From October 29 through November 2 a total of 7281 students participated. This… Read More »
More than 429 people attended SUMIT 2018 either in person at Rackham Auditorium or virtually via the live stream throughout the day. These individuals represented more than 170 colleges, universities, corporations, small businesses, and nonprofits from around the country.
During a recent Duo “go-live,”nearly a dozen HITS staff-volunteers supplemented regular Service Desk staff – answering customers’ questions and providing support during the set-up and activation process. Beginning October 10, Michigan Medicine began requiring all Michigan Medicine employees to use Duo two-factor authentication to access U-M resources that require Weblogin. This move was intended to provide an additional layer of protection… Read More »
The revised University of Michigan Information Security policy (SPG 601.27) recently was approved, along with a number of new information technology standards. The policy and accompanying standards represent the most comprehensive revision of the institution’s information security program since its inception over a decade ago. SPG 601.27 and the standards are based on a cybersecurity risk management framework that… Read More »
The holiday season is just around the corner, and you may be getting ready to do some online shopping. The Safe Computing website offers tips to protect your personal information and devices when you shop online. Secure your environment. Keep devices and accounts secure and choose the safest ways to pay. Know who you are dealing with. What… Read More »
We all should be in the habit of keeping our software up-to-date. This is necessary because vendors and others regularly identify security vulnerabilities in software and apps, and then release updates and patches to fix them. Additionally, keeping your software current enables you to take advantage of other improvements, such as better performance or new functionality. Personal computers… Read More »
Many popular services and websites offer two-factor authentication. Information Assurance (IA) encourages you to turn it on whenever it’s available to protect your personal accounts. Duo may be an option If you already use the Duo Mobile app for two-factor at U-M, you might be able to use it with your personal, non-university accounts. If a service’s instructions… Read More »
Antivirus software should be installed and kept up-to-date on all of your computers—both your own and those owned by the university. MiWorkspace computers already have antivirus software installed, and it is updated automatically. For U-M computers Information Assurance (IA) recommends these antivirus products that are licensed for use on UM-owned computers: Windows 8 and 10. Use Windows Defender,… Read More »
Mark your calendars for SUMIT_2018, U-M’s 14th annual cyber security conference on Thursday, October 25. Learn more and register today! Security at University of Michigan IT (SUMIT) is the university’s flagship event for National Cybersecurity Awareness Month. Held at Rackham Auditorium, SUMIT is an exciting opportunity to hear recognized experts discuss the latest issues, trends, and threats in… Read More »
Researchers at U-M were part of a group that discovered a new processor vulnerability that could potentially put secure information at risk in any Intel-based PC manufactured since 2008. It could affect users who rely on a digital lockbox feature known as Intel Software Guard Extensions, or SGX, as well as those who utilize common cloud-based services,… Read More »
You know you need to check the URL before logging in, but wouldn’t it be great if your web browser did some of that checking for you? If you use Chrome and an extension from Information Assurance (IA), it can. The U-M Safe Computing Website Checker extension for Chrome warns you while you are using Chrome: When you… Read More »
Phishing attacks, data breaches, and identity theft have become common issues plaguing organizations the world over, including health systems and universities. The most significant step the Michigan Medicine community can take to protect their data, as well as that of our patients and research participants, is to use Duo with all web-based services that require U-M login. While 26,000… Read More »
The institutionally owned devices we use to do our work are kept secure by connecting regularly to the internal U-M network. Connecting ensures that our devices receive the patches and anti-virus protection that are typically installed automatically and daily whenever we are logged in. Effective August 16, 2018, Health Information Technology & Services (HITS) will implement a policy… 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 »
A new Community of Practice (CoP) group has been established to address the challenges U-M programs, faculty, students, and employees may face with the federal government’s Controlled Unclassified Information (CUI) program. The new U-M CUI CoP has evolved from the Export Controls CoP, which now falls under the umbrella of the CUI CoP. U-M, like all research universities,… Read More »
Have you ever seen a pop-up on your computer or received an unsolicited call urging you to contact “tech support?” Scammers sometimes impersonate IT support staff and claim something is wrong with your computer. They offer to help fix the problem—for a fee—but instead may steal your personal information or infect your computer with malicious software. This… Read More »
Register for the free training session “Digital Self-Defense: Threats, Passwords, and Securing Your Accounts.”
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 »
When U-M employees leave the university or transfer from one unit to another, it is important to consider transferring ownership of files and other digital resources needed for university business. See these resources for tips and information: Leaving U-M U-M Termination Checklist (downloadable Excel file from U-M Human Resources) What to do if something is missed In cases… Read More »