It’s Cyber Security month – how much DON’T you know?

Wednesday, October 8, 2014

This notice is from the archives of The Notice Board. Information contained in this notice was accurate at the time of publication but may no longer be so.

The Information Security office in IT Services, along with the University’s FOIP office, is setting up booths on campus to test, educate, and interact with faculty, staff and students in an effort to increase awareness surrounding their privacy, data, and the University’s policies, procedures and standards.

The awareness effort is to educate and inform people about all of the current issues in cyber security, says Kevin Vadnais, Information Security Officer. “It’s not just governments and corporations that need to be alert – cyber criminals target individuals because they are often the weakest link. On average the cost of a data breach can exceed $200 per record lost or stolen. With just the current student population count, the impact to the University could exceed $1.6 million dollars in direct costs if a major breach were to occur. We need to educate as many people as we can to protect themselves and our institution.”

He adds that not only are identities stolen, falling for a seemingly simple phishing message can be a conduit to breaching large systems and networks with those stolen credentials.

“When we lose usernames and passwords to outside attackers we observe systematic abuse of our services here on campus, including, but not limited to, email abuse, website abuse and the theft of intellectual property owned by the University," says Vadnais.

He is challenging the University community to visit his booth in University Hall and the Students’ Union foyer this month and take a simple online test. Completion of 10 questions earns every participant a gift.

Bring your questions, concerns, myths and fears about cyber security and privacy to Kevin Vadnais or Maria Marcial, the U of L’s Privacy & Legal Advisor, when they set up on campus on the following dates and locations:

University Center for the Arts Atrium – 9 am to 3 pm