Author: Dan Boyd

Welcome to a new semester and a new year! I hope this newsletter finds you settling in for an exciting season of learning, educating and working. We have a number of topics to cover, but they are pretty straightforward so this shouldn’t be a long newsletter, but be sure to read to the end for all of the new changes, important information, and suggestions on how to work, learn, and operate on the Internet more securely.

It’s here…December has arrived, complete with cooler weather, the end of the semester (including finals), the holidays approaching and even more phishing emails. While a discussion of the kinds of emails we’ve received would be useful, and comical at times, that’s not the topic of this month’s newsletter. We’ve all(?) been working to complete the required cybersecurity awareness training since August, and while we have a considerable number of completions, there is definitely room for improvement.

Is it already November? Absolutely, it is, and I know everyone is welcoming the fall weather and the approaching end of classes. We just had a super October celebrating Cybersecurity Awareness Month. Thank you to everyone who read the weekly articles, participated in the virtual scavenger hunt, and completed their cybersecurity awareness training. We’ll recap Cybersecurity Awareness Month first, then get to November news.

This week we will briefly discuss the necessity of updating your software. Whether that means restarting your browser periodically to allow it to update, or allowing your smart phone to automatically install updates, or restarting your desktop or laptop to let updates run, updating your software is important.

So far this October we have talked about passwords and password managers, and multi-factor authentication. This week we will discuss the plague of phishing emails, and social engineering in general. What is social engineering?

Ha! No, the title is not some patriotic chant or crude taunt. Is is a cheer for multi-factor authentication, one of most powerful tools in our arsenal to combat cyber attackers and it is the subject of this week’s Cybersecurity Awareness Month article.

It’s here again! In addition to exciting athletics, Mountain Day, and cooler temperatures, October brings us Cybersecurity Awareness Month! A whole month celebrating and emphasizing cybersecurity awareness?! A security professional’s dream! But you should be excited also, as Cybersecurity Awareness Month brings us another round of virtual scavenger hunting and winning cool prizes.