Technology Update - Data Privacy Issue

January 28, 2020

DATA PRIVACY DAY NEWSLETTER

Today is Data Privacy Day, an international awareness day. Every 28th of January, we raise awareness and promote privacy and data protection best practices. Read below about what Drexel University is doing to protect the community against identity thieves, payroll robbers, spammers, intellectual property spies, and other bad actors.

PASSWORD RESET AND MULTI-FACTOR AUTHENTICATION

The Drexel University Information Technology team thanks the community for their cooperation in adopting Multi-Factor Authentication and for resetting your passwords on such short notice. This was a necessary step to protect the people, the information, and the systems of the University. Credible sources reported that a foreign hacker posed a serious threat to the Drexel University community. After an internal investigation, we brought in a team of experts from FireEye Mandiant and contacted the FBI. Whereas your work suffered disruptions, no information was compromised. If you use your Drexel username and the same old password on websites and services beyond Drexel, we recommend that you reset those passwords too.

PERSONAL SECURITY

With the rise of data breaches and cybercrimes, many people experienced identity theft in the United States. Proactively protect your identity to prevent being a victim. The US government offers advice at https://www.usa.gov/identity-theft to protect yourself from identity theft. Drexel recommends Sophos Antivirus to ensure that your personal data stays secure on your laptop.

PHISHING AWARENESS

Don’t fall for fake STUDENT JOB OFFERS or GIFT CARD SCAMS! Phishing comes in many forms, whether through a phone call or email. These scams 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 use Outlook, report scam and phishing emails using the “Report Message” button under Protection.

Report Spam Button in Outlook

Receive a suspicious email? Forward the email with full headers to mailabuse@drexel.edu.

SECURITY AWARENESS PROGRAM

Do you want to learn more about common cyber security threats? To protect and prepare everyone in our community we made a security awareness course available to the Drexel community. Access this online course at: https://drexel.edu/it/security/awareness-program/. Visit the Information Security website to find additional security tips, best practices, and other resources.