National Cybersecurity Awareness Month (NCSAM): Protect yourself
October 9, 2019
ncsam poster
Image: staysafeonline.org

October is National Cybersecurity Awareness Month, a great time to make sure your digital life is secure. IS&T is sharing a series of security-related videos and articles throughout the month. Come and meet our Security Team in Lobby 10 on October 17 from 11:30 am to 1:30 pm. Read on and play it safe!

Compromised computers and other devices can be used as a foothold allowing attackers to spread through the network. Networked devices in MIT's public IP space are constantly under attack from devices across the globe. Take steps to protect your devices and the information you handle at MIT.

  • Enable automatic updates for your operating systems and software to protect against the latest security threats.
  • Install Sophos Anti-Virus and CrowdStrike Falcon. Sophos protects your computer against known viruses, worms, and malware. CrowdStrike provides advanced protection against emerging threats, using machine learning to detect patterns commonly seen in attacks.
  • Use a password manager such as LastPass to generate and protect strong, unique passwords.
  • Back up your computers using CrashPlan. This cloud-based backup solution makes it easy to recover data from computers that have been lost, stolen, or damaged by malware.
  • If you handle personally identifiable information (PII), install Spirion to help you detect and securely encrypt or delete files with sensitive information.

Learn more

The Information Protection @ MIT website provides access to policies and guidance on safeguarding information at the Institute. The IT Security Awareness I and II courses are available in the Atlas Learning Center.