Protect Rice from data theft today

Protect Rice from data theft today

It’s in everyone’s best interest to keep electronic devices at Rice University secure and able to withstand outside attempts to gather personal information of students and staff. This vigilance is also required by state and federal laws.

Sensitive information, or personal information, includes Social Security numbers, credit card numbers, salary information, health-care details, employment data and class schedules. When placed in the wrong hands, any of these details could be used to harm the owner of that information.

Marc Scarborough, information security officer at Rice, makes these suggestions to keep electronic data safe:

1.    Apply security measures to computers at work and at home, including all desktops, laptops and portable devices such as telephones, smartphones and personal digital assistants.

2.    Require a password on any computer used to access Rice resources.

3.    Configure your devices to automatically apply security patches and use a personal firewall. To download antivirus software, visit the Rice IT department’s Web pages.

4.    Use strong passwords. Read five steps to superior passwords to make sure your passwords are harder to crack.

5.    Leave data on the server. Do not copy personal information to your desktop, laptop or portable devices. It’s much safer to work from a server copy when documents contain sensitive data.

6.    Remove all data from devices before transfer, sale or disposal. IT outlines how to remove sensitive data from a computer on its Web pages.

7.    Use secure connections and a virtual private network connection, commonly known as a VPN. The IT department explains VPNs and offers step-by-step instructions for installing VPN on its Web pages.

8.    Stay up-to-date on the latest online scams. Many good sites explain Web and e-mail scams. One place to start is on About.com.

9.    Report stolen devices and suspected network break-ins immediately by e-mailing security@rice.edu. It’s also important to report strange behavior from your computer, such as the mouse moving on its own or applications that begin running that you do not recognize.

For additional computer security tips and regular updates on data safety, visit information security Web pages often.