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Dumpster Diving

Dumpster diving is searching someone’s trash for information that can be used to launch a social engineering and/or computer system attack. The criminal can learn a lot from discarded information and use that information to establish trust with someone in the organization. Even seemingly harmless information can be pieced together by an attacker to build a backstory and gain access to UT Southwestern resources. 

  • Access codes
  • Calendars
  • Institutional records
  • Invoices
  • Meeting notes
  • Network diagrams
  • Org charts
  • Printed emails
  • Telephone directories 

Review the Final Disposition of Files and/or Records and Records Retention Guideline. Properly dispose of information that Is no longer needed. Use a shredder or a locked shred bin for this purpose.


Questions about information security?

Office of Information Security
214-648-7600

informationsecurity@UTSouthwestern.edu