Welcome to December! The featured image is just a little wishful thinking showing our snowfall from seven years ago. This last month of the year and semester is already well along, this being the second week as you read this (or later). This newsletter will be short and to the point. We have two topics to discuss and we’ll cover them quickly, as I know everyone is busy. The first topic is international travel and how the college will handle this moving forward. You probably already guessed the second topic – cybersecurity awareness training. The deadline is now extended – please complete this as soon as possible.
Many of us travel internationally both for business and pleasure. I have just recently traveled for the latter reason and it was glorious. I hope many of you get the opportunity to do so at some point. However, international travel does involve risks and some of that risk involves the kind of data you may have stored on a work or personal device that may be regulated by export control. Potentially sensitive or restricted data could be saved to your device and if you do not take steps before you leave for your trip to properly secure and limit the data you bring along, you may put both yourself and the college at risk.
The Office of Information Technology is currently working with other departments and schools to develop clear guidelines on how to safely and legally travel internationally in the future. Be looking for announcements both from OIT and from your dean or department head about new procedures to follow BEFORE leaving on an international trip, either for work or for a well-deserved vacation. This may involve letting OIT know what countries you will be traveling to and possibly determine what devices and procedures you may need to take or follow to either complete your work there or safely enjoy whatever country you are visiting. Again, be looking for more information on this in the new year.
The deadline for completing the cybersecurity awareness training has been extended to December 13th, so if you have not started or completed this course, please do so soon. Yes, I know this is a busy week, but you’ve known about this requirement for weeks now. Take the pre-test, as doing so could shorten the amount of time required to complete the course. Let’s get this done!
That’s it. That’s all I got this month. I wish you all happy holidays and a restful time off from the world of academia, whether that means no classes to take, no classes to teach, or no tasks to complete to move the business of the college forward.
All Berry students, faculty and staff have MFA enabled on their Berry account, and you should use it in the most secure way via the Microsoft Authenticator app on your smart phone. But don’t stop there! Use the Microsoft Authenticator as your second factor on any site that supports Google Authenticator. Turn MFA/2FA on everywhere you can. Yes, it will take you another few seconds to log in, but your data and account will be safer.
Please continue to report those phishing emails! Avoid using “unsubscribe” links and report spam via the “Report message” button, just like you would a phishing email.
If I’m not covering a topic of cybersecurity you are interested in or concerned about, please let me know. I want to be your first and best resource on cybersecurity information, so tell how I can help and inform you.
If you’re not following Berry OIT on Facebook (@BerryCollegeOIT), Twitter (@berryoit), or Instagram (@berrycollegeoit), you should be, as more information from OIT and specifically Information Security, will be provided using these outlets. If you are not into social media, you can also subscribe to get updates via email. Just use the link available in the right-hand sidebar on the website.
Check out https://support.berry.edu for more information about OIT and the services we provide. You can always check back here for warnings about current phishing emails, confirmations of valid emails you might have a question about, and data breach notifications. There’s also the events calendar where events will be posted, like Cybersecurity Awareness Month.
Food For Thought
I leave you with one of my favorite Christmas songs – the video is neat and cute, but I just listen to the music. It connects orchestral music with electric guitar, so it MUST be cool…right?
Featured Image: Brant Sanderlin/Berry College 2017
August News from Information Security
