Cyber Security Awareness and Best Practices

Email

Phishing attacks often come in the form of an unsolicited email message purporting to be from someone you trust, an officer of the University, or an administrative department, such as the Help Desk or Accounting. The email message is many times disguised to appear official in nature, containing the University of Richmond logo or other organizational branding.

The emails usually contain one or more links, that when clicked, prompt an individual to download a file or enter their NetID and password. If you mistakenly enter your NetID and password on a malicious web site, change your password immediately at https://webpass.richmond.edu. Downloading and executing a malicious file can cause irreparable harm to your computer. Contact the University Help Desk as soon as possible to have the situation assessed and refrain from using the computer to access sensitive information.

Passwords

The longer the password the better. All passwords should contain numbers and both upper and lower case letters. At any search engine web page type "random password generator". Multiple sites will give you random words; you can combine them and add numbers anywhere in the password, KetchupEscalator47. You can also make a passphrase, Iwillruna10kRace2018. Both examples meet all UR requirements of +16 characters.

Random Word Generator: https://www.randomlists.com/random-words

Consumer Related Cyber Threats

Did you know that you can request a free credit report from 3 different credit agencies each year? It’s a great idea to monitor your credit report throughout the year so request a report from a different agency every 4 months. The agencies to contact are Equifax, TransUnion, and Experian.

If you do become a victim of identity theft, www.IdentityTheft.gov can help you report and recover from the theft. The immediate steps that you should take are:

  1. Call the companies where you know fraud occurred.
  2. Place a fraud alert and get copies of your credit reports.
  3. Report identity theft to the FTC.
  4. You may choose to file a report with your local police department.