One of our goals is to enable faculty and staff to work as securely as possible from home.
Our partner in security awareness training, SANS, offers these five steps, also available in more detail as a Top 5 Tips for Working Securely from Home download (PDF, 1.04 MB).
1. YOU are the best defense against social engineering attacks
Don’t let attackers trick you into giving them your login information or personally identifiable information (PII). They’ll try to do this by creating a sense of urgency, posing as tech support or someone you know. Information Services will never ask you for your password.
2. Secure your wireless network
- Change the default administrator password
- Enable strong security by requiring a password and enabling encryption
- Make the passwords strong
3. Be smart with passwords
SANS recommends using a multi-word passphrase to ensure a strong password with many characters. Use different passwords for your KNET account and other accounts, and manage all the passwords with a password manager such as KeePass.
4. Keep software updated
Ensure your computers and mobile devices install software updates promptly, enabling automatic updating whenever possible.
5. Keep kids and guests off your work devices
They can accidentally erase or modify information, or, perhaps even worse, accidentally infect the device.