A Message from The Department of Information Technology
In today's cyber world we rely more and more on the convenience of the internet to do everyday tasks. From banking and shopping to job applications and credit checks today's world wide web truly is all encompassing. But with the wealth of information and services of the internet comes a great amount of risk. Today's cyber crimes are committed by professional criminals for profit. The good news is with a bit of education, some care and common sense you can protect yourself from cyber crimes and stay safe online. We have put together a number of resources to help you do just that, we hope you find them useful.
Quick Tips
Consider using a passphrase instead of a password for example instead of using "rover" as your password use "My d0gs n@me is R0ver".
Never share your passwords with anyone, remember a username and password IS you online, it's as good as presenting your drivers license to verify who you are.
Remember when sharing items on Social Media to make sure you are using the applications privacy settings, once something is shared in the world of Social Media it can grow a life of its own and is very hard to take back.
Also on Social Media be mindful of sharing your location or details you might not want everyone to see. For example, while on vacation it is very tempting to share photos and the location of your trip, but do you want to broadcast to the world that your not at home and your home is vacant? Consider waiting until you return from your trip to share the experience.
Consider using browser tools to protect your privacy, most modern browsers have an "in-private" mode or sometimes called an "incognito mode" which will help keep traces of your browsing off the PC and is useful when browsing on shared or public workstations. Additionally many browsers now have an option to send a "do not track" to website that you visit however not all websites will honor the request, but it is still more secure then browsing without it.
Always use common sense when reading email and browsing online, if something seems to good to be true or suspicious follow your instinct. If your are in doubt pick up the phone and reach out too the sender before you open that email or click that link!
