Welcome back after what we hope was a restful holiday break. This edition of the CISO Update will cover two topics: one a reminder and another a new and important initiative.

First, many of us shortly will begin another semester of remote work due to the pandemic. We hope everyone has stayed safe and will continue to do so. Working remotely poses a whole new set of cybersecurity challenges, from unpatched home workstations to potentially vulnerable home WiFi networks. We covered best security practices for working remotely in some advisories last spring, and we strongly suggest that you take a minute to review those guidelines. A few simple steps can really improve your cybersecurity.

Working Safely from Home: Aug. 2020
Working Safely from Home: Sept. 2020

Over the course of the semester, we’re also going to be adding two-factor authentication (2FA) more broadly across the FIT environment. 2FA is the practice of supplementing your ID and password with a text message or similar additional authentication to make sure you are who you say you are and not someone who happened to guess or steal your password. It’s the single best way to protect you and the college from phishing and its results, ransomware, and identity theft. It’s widely used in business and at many other colleges, and it’s already in limited use at FIT, but we’re going to expand it. VPN users will be required to use 2FA shortly after the start of the semester, and it will be required of all users to log into FIT Google accounts later in the semester. But, you can set up 2FA on your Google account right now—here’s an article how.

In a recent article in Infosecurity Magazine, cybersecurity researchers have predicted the top three cyberthreats for 2021—and they can all be prevented by enabling 2FA on your FIT Google account today. Infosecurity Magazine, Dec 2020

What can you do?

Follow “The 4 Don’ts” of email safety.
Review the Cybersafe site for reminders on secure remote work.
Watch for more announcements about 2FA.
Turn 2FA on your Google account ASAP. It will be required shortly, so get ahead of the curve.

There are lots more tips available on the Cybersafe website, and we’ll continue to cover more topics via IT’s social media.

Stay aware, and stay cybersafe!