It’s the fourth week of the Oklahoma City University Cyber Security Awareness Month!
Just like in the physical world around us, the OCU IT unit urges us all to be even more aware of our surroundings online.
In the world of cybercrime, black-hatted crooks are always after sensitive data like passwords and account login credentials.
They also try to urge victims to take action in haste, like sending money or making transfers of Bitcoin or other hard-to-trace cryptocurrencies.
Rather than actually hacking exploits in computer networks or systems, criminals can do this by preying on a victim’s trust.
This act of manipulation is called social engineering, and it has been proven to be a very successful (and much easier) way for criminals to get what they want.
As our lives become more and more digitized, social engineering tricks and tactics have become more sophisticated and harder to spot.
The OCU campus technology team has spent the past week delving into how social engineering works, some common scams, and cons to look out for, and how you can protect yourself and the school.
One helpful habit that the OCU campus technology team encourages us to adopt is the use of strong passwords – or, even better, multi-factor authentication that is phishing-resistant, where possible.
Here are some simple ways to secure your accounts through better password practices:
1. Make Your Password a Sentence:
A strong password is a sentence that is at least 12 characters long. Focus on positive sentences or phrases that you like to think about and are easy to remember (for example, “I love puppies and kitties”).
On most sites, you can use special characters, and some allow spaces, so get creative – Just always remember, length is the key!
2. Unique Account, Unique Password:
Having separate passwords for every account helps to thwart cybercriminals.
At a minimum, separate your work and personal accounts and make sure that your critical accounts have the strongest passwords.
3. Keep Your Password Safe:
Everyone can forget a password. Keep passwords stored in a safe, secure place away from your computer, like a password manager.
There are many tools and apps available, and Microsoft offers one for personal use – OneDrive Personal Vault.
4. Lock Down Your Login:
Fortify your online accounts by enabling the strongest authentication tools available, such as biometrics, security keys, or a unique one-time code through an app on your mobile device.
Your usernames and passwords are not enough to protect key accounts like email, banking, and social media.
For additional information on creating strong – and long – passwords? “Google is your best friend” … but it seems you haven’t recognized it yet!
Jake Adebayo
Tech Archivist
Student Publications
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