Stay Safe at Home
This is our last CISO update before many of you break away from FIT for the summer, and we certainly hope it’s a safe and enjoyable one. If the last 9 weeks has taught us anything, it’s that the line between our personal and FIT lives can get pretty thin. Many of us are using personal home computers to VPN to FIT, or at least to connect to FIT G Suite. Many of us are using FIT G Suite accounts to set up accounts on video conferencing platforms or other applications. Many of us are sharing computers and other devices with family members.
We continue to try to raise awareness about the importance of cybersafety, through events, annual training, phishing exercises, alerts to the community, and this monthly update. We can’t rehash it all here, but as we break for the summer and as the current pandemic has created new waves of cyber crime, we wanted to remind you about some things that will keep your information safe.
What can you do?
- Don’t use your FIT G Suite account to sign into non-FIT applications. Often when you do so you inadvertently allow the application provider to have broad access to your G Suite data.
- Make sure your personal computers and all the applications on them (like browsers) are set to automatically update themselves. Critical patches come out all the time.
- Log off your computer and log out of FIT accounts before you let other family members use your computer.
- Be super-careful about opening Covid-related emails. Unfortunately, between fake charities and fake governmental agencies, there is a ton of malicious email that is preying on fear or generosity to steal information or money.
- Remember that our cybersafe website it.fitnyc.edu/cybersafe is available 24 x 7 if you have questions, and the information contained on it is helpful for personal and work issues.
Stay aware, and stay cybersafe, and have a good and healthy summer!
About Cybersafe
The Division of Information Technology is dedicated to informing the community of the latest cybersecurity threats. Visit fitnyc.edu/cybersafe and stay tuned for emails from [email protected] for the latest from the Cybersafe campaign at FIT.
Walter Kerner
Chief Information Security Officer
Division of Information Technology
