National Cybersecurity Awareness Month

Updated Oct. 20, 2020

National Cybersecurity Awareness Month: Protect Your Identity

October is National Cybersecurity Awareness Month. Cyberattacks are increasingly focused on stealing your personal information and identity by obtaining usernames and passwords to personal and UT Southwestern accounts. A few tips to help fight identity theft:

  • Never reuse the same passwords across your personal accounts or between your personal and work accounts.
  • Use a passphrase or password greater than 10 characters in length.
  • Enable multifactor authentication and fraud alerts on your personal finance and banking, email and shopping sites.
  • Check out https://haveibeenpwned.com/ to see if an account has been involved in a data breach and what type of information may be available to identity thieves.
  • Consider freezing your credit through the three national credit bureaus: https://www.consumer.ftc.gov/articles/0497-credit-freeze-faqs

informationsecurity@utsouthwestern.edu Information Security with any questions or concerns and forward suspicious emails to spamreport@lists.utsouthwestern.edu Spam Report.

Tips for strengthening your home network security

Working from home presents additional risk of cybercriminals stealing your personal and UTSW data through theft of your identity and computing access. While off campus, home computers are not fully protected by UTSW enterprise security controls, but there are several steps you can take to prevent common attacks: 

  1. Keep your software up to date. Enable auto-updates for your computer to keep software current. Don’t use old software (e.g. Windows 7, MacOS 10.13 High Sierra) since these remain vulnerable and do not receive new security patches. Use professional antivirus software and keep it updated. We recommend free Sophos Home Premium antivirus for up to ten personal devices.
  2. Be vigilant and watch for scams. Phishing scams arrive through email, text, and phone calls. Be cautious of email attachments, sketchy websites, and downloads from the internet.
  3. Maintain a strong password or passphrase. Keep it greater than 10 characters in length and use multifactor authentication on your personal and work accounts. Protect your mobile phone as you would your computer, including using a PIN or password that encrypts your device.
  4. Store all business data on UTSW systems and not directly on your home computer.
  5. Keep your devices in a safe place. Laptops, phones, and tablets may be stolen, especially from vehicles. Use built-in encryption on all your devices.
  6. Back up valuable data. The best practice in many scenarios is to use UTSW OneDrive.