Table of Contents

October Is Cyber Security Awareness Month
On Ransomware and Backups
Information Security Resources
Gone Phishing?
New Security Technologies: Two-Factor Authentication and Advanced Firewalls

October Is Cyber Security Awareness Month

Election interference, identity theft, hacking, ransomware, phishing… Information security is on everyone’s mind and makes headlines. In October, cyber security awareness month, we remind the Drexel University community about the importance of responsible and secure technology use. Take precautions, learn from available educational resources, and benefit from new technologies to reduce your online risk.

Those of us who work on information security at the University have the mission to protect the people, the information, and the systems of the institution. We adhere to the principle of privacy and security by design. Yet, security takes a village. At Drexel University we invite all students, faculty, staff, affiliates, and partners to join us.  By practicing secure computing, all of us will serve our community and society better. By practicing secure computing, Drexel University students will be ready to steward the resources entrusted to them in their future professions.

Be safe out there.

On Ransomware and Backups

“Oh, no! I lost all my files because my computer was attacked by ransomware. I have important files stored in it and I want them back.”

Have you ever heard or spoken these words? Protect your valuable work and do not pay data recovery fees or ransom demands despite whatever the hackers promise. Store your files in the Office 365 OneDrive service provided by the University. Faculty and staff members can also back up their University computers with Crashplan.

Information Security Resources

Visit the newly redesigned Drexel Information Security website at https://drexel.edu/it/security to learn more about cybersecurity.

To protect and prepare everyone in our community, we have made an Information Security Awareness course now available to all students, faculty and staff via Blackboard. Attendance is voluntary. Access this online course at https://drexel.edu/it/security/AwarenessTraining.

Gone Phishing?

Phishing emails are creative. Some look like an offer from a financial institution, a transaction from an e-commerce site, a notice from the Internal Revenue Service, a professor’s job advertisement, a financial aid refund, or a Nigerian prince offer for riches. They often urge you to act quickly by informing you that the account has been compromised, your order cannot be fulfilled, or another urgent matter. If you are unsure whether an email message is legitimate, forward it to consult@drexel.edu. If you use Outlook, report scam and phishing emails using the “Report Message” button under Protection.

Click to Enlarge

New Security Technologies: Two-Factor Authentication and Advanced Firewalls

Our technology team is working with leading technology companies to protect the community against cyber threats.

Over the next few months, University students, faculty, and staff will use two-factor authentication. We will log in to Drexel systems with something that we know–a password—and something that we have—for example, a code generated by our mobile phones.

To improve its cyber defenses, the University recently embarked in a multi-year project to install advanced firewalls and other state-of-the-art protection technologies made by Palo Alto.