Below is a brief list of technology security tips that the CPS IT Team has put together.  Hopefully the list will help give guidance to staff members while using different types of technology.  Now this list is not exhaustive and should be viewed as a starting point of some basic pointers.  CPS IT encourages readers to continue this discussion by joining the CPS myUMBC group in order to leave comments.

• It is good practice when you are working remotely from UMBC and or also using an insecure wireless network that you first connect to the UMBC VPN.  This will help to ensure that the work you are transmitting and receiving is being encrypted.  Here is more information regarding the VPN that UMBC uses:  https://spaces.umbc.edu/pages/viewpage.action?pageId=14682567 .

• Some of us may be in the position where we have to purchase items for our department.  This may involve ordering items online.  One good tip is to make sure wherever you are purchasing from there is an "https" in the address bar.  This reveals that your information being transmitted is being encrypted.  Now this will not ensure that your information may never be compromised, but this is a good security tactic that a lot of online vendors employ.

• Instead of saving work documents to you computer you have an option of saving them to a network share drive.  A network share drive is storage that resides in a different location other than your local computer.  One of the true values of using network share drives is that your data is saved in a different location than your computer.  So if your computer becomes inoperable then you won't lose data you have saved on the shared drive.  Also DoIT backs-up this data nightly which alleviates you having to worry about backing-up data.  The vast majority of Windows-based computers we have in CPS are connected to the Active Directory in which network share drives are mapped automatically upon logging into the machine.  Everyone should have an H:\ drive which is for your work documents that you do not want to share with others.  This drive is only accessible to you (and of course DoIT staff that maintain storage).  Conversely there is a CPS (DPET) departmental drive that you should have access to which may be signified with the letter I:\ on your computer.  This is where you can share files with your colleagues.  If you have an Apple computer you still can connect to share drives.  See this link:  https://spaces.umbc.edu/pages/viewpage.action?pageId=14680656 .

• It is always good practice to lock your workstation every time you walk away from it.  If you do not, you are leaving yourself vulnerable to having someone sit at your computer, logged in as you.  This person would have access to everything that you are logged into as well as all of your documents, contacts, etc.  Detailed instructions on locking and unlocking can be found here; (https://spaces.umbc.edu/pages/viewpage.action?pageId=18976699).

• Many people use the same password for everything.  This makes it easier for you to remember, however if a hacker or thief was able to get a hold of your password, they would have access to every account you use.  A good way to combat this is to use as many different passwords as possible.  For example, don't use use your same password for myUMBC as you do for online banking, or Facebook, or a personal e-mail account, etc.  Also make sure that you are utilizing the best practices for passwords.  Some suggestions can be found here; (http://www.microsoft.com/protect/fraud/passwords/create.aspx).
  

Also here are a list of links that we have found that may be useful to you:

https://spaces.umbc.edu/pages/viewpage.action?pageId=14682551

https://spaces.umbc.edu/pages/viewpage.action?pageId=13501260

http://www.microsoft.com/protect/fraud/default.aspx

As stated earlier, CPS IT encourages readers to continue this discussion by joining the CPS myUMBC group in order to leave comments.

Thank you,

CPS IT Team