Cybersecurity Tips

Cybersecurity is the shared responsibility of everyone. Students, staff, and faculty alike can help contribute to an environment of safe online practices. In addition, you can do many things to help keep everyone’s information safe.

• Use a hard-to-guess password with special characters and random numbers.
  Refrain from including dictionary words and instead use abbreviations or acronyms of phrases you’ll remember. Include random numbers and special characters, such as #, to make it more secure against password cracking software. Never share your password with anyone else.
• Never download links or attachments from untrusted emails and websites.
  When presented a link from an email or webpage, hover your mouse over the link to make sure the URL is recognizable. For example, if you intend to download something from Microsoft and you see the URL is from “microzooft.com,” the link is most likely not legitimate and possibly malicious.
• Avoid using public Wi-Fi and computers when traveling.
  When using an open wireless network, other people may be able to sniff and view your online traffic. Therefore, do not conduct sensitive activities such as online shopping, banking, or University work. If you must, only visit sites that start with “https://” and not “http://”. Also, be cautious of using public computers in hotels, libraries, and cyber cafes as they may have malware and key loggers installed.
• Protect and watch over your devices when traveling and in public.
  To prevent theft of your devices, always check your surroundings and ensure your devices are within eyesight. Do not leave phones, laptops, USBs, and external hard drives unattended. Ensure your work devices and hard drives are encrypted before traveling. For more information, see the top menu of this page under Resources > Disk Encryption for Fordham’s Encryption Policies.
• Don’t leave confidential information out in the open.
  If you are handling confidential information with anyone’s personally identifiable information, make sure to lock your computer or keep papers locked away in a secure space.