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New Security Web Site

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security

Whether you’re worried about email scams, trying to choose a good password, or deciding if an internet service will keep your data safe, OIT’s new Security web site has advice and answers.

Newly organized around communities with various needs, you can find information collected for your University role (faculty), the information you work with (student records), a question you have (encryption), or services you need (security certificates), you can now find help quickly and easily.

OIT’s IT Security team watches for the latest threats and solutions, follows changes in law and policy, and is ready to advise UCI affiliates in balancing business efficiency, risk mitigation, and privacy protection.  And if you need help you can’t find on the web site, feel free to email security@uci.edu

In Brief December 2015

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latest news

  • OIT encourages all faculty and staff to log into UCLC and take the UC Cyber Security Awareness Training ecourse.
  • An improved user interface for Webfiles will be introduced during Winter quarter.  Users are invited to log in to the test server, create an account, and test-drive the new version.
  • Users of UCI’s O365 email service should be watching their clutter folder, a new feature intended to reduce junk email.  If this feature is not helpful, you can turn it off in Outlook or OWA under Settings / Mail / Automatic processing.

Your Password is like a Toothbrush

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password
Treat your password like your toothbrush: choose a good one, change it regularly, and don’t share it.

Your UCInetID is your gateway to online services at UCI.  Like a skeleton key, it serves as your single credential for most network services on campus.  Use of a UCInetID and password by anyone other than the owner can result in exploitation of UCI resources, loss of personal and university information, and other potentially severe consequences.

You are responsible for anything done with your UCInetID.  Keep your UCInetID password to yourself.  Don’t share it, don’t keep it in a computer file, and don’t write it down.

IT security is a responsibility we all share.  Many cyber-security breaches begin with an innocent but incautious act.  Let’s all keep UCI safe.

Choosing a Secure Password

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password

Choosing a password can be a daunting task. You must choose one that no one can guess but you can remember! Here are some guidelines to help you.

  • When choosing a new password, do not re-use any of your past passwords.
  • Pick a password that has at least 8 characters. Generally speaking, the longer your password is, the more secure it is.
  • Your password should contain at least one alphabetical character (a-z).
  • Passwords are case-sensitive and can have both upper and lower case letters. Using MiXeD case in your password increases its security.
  • Your password should contain at least one non-alphabetical character,which is not the first or last character of the password.
  • Including numbers and punctuation increases the strength of your password.
  • Using a long phrase, up to 63 characters creates a very strong password/pass phrase.
  • Do not use any personal information (name, address, phone number, social security number, UCI employee ID number) as any part of a password.

One helpful technique for choosing a secure password is to think of a phrase you can remember. Take the first letter of each word in the phrase, then change some letters to mixed case or numbers or punctuation. For example, the famous movie line “Louie, I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship” could become the password “LItt1tb0abf”.  Note the two capital letters and the two digits.