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Quick Facts - IT Security and Audits

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Edward B. Fort IRC Building Suite 40 (basement level)
Telephone (336) 334-7856
Fax: (336) 334-3833
E-mail:  itsecure@ncat.edu 

Mission: The mission of this department is to engage the campus community in security education, audit end user compliance with University policies as well as federal and state legislation regarding information technology. The mission includes working collaboratively with University personnel and vendors and/or independently in order to develop and implement security strategies that promote the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of the University’s information technology resources.

 

Computing Safety Tips
  1. Do not share accounts and passwords that have been assigned to you. This includes but is not limited to accounts for AIS, SIS, FRS, e-mail system, Blackboard, Web for Students, and your workstation.
  2. Change the default password that you are assigned to something that you will remember; a recommended password size is six characters or more; of course, the password size is regulated by the password policy for a particular computer system; when resetting your password, use any or a combination of the following formats in order to make cracking your password more difficult:
    1. Lower and uppercase letters (i.e. aGGieP)
    2. numbers (i.e. aGGie2K4)
    3. symbols (i.e. #1aGGie@P)
    Note: Some symbols are reserved for operating system functionality.
  3. When an employee leaves the University or transfers to another department, make sure that the employee’s rights to departmental resources are revoked; this includes student personnel as well.
  4. Have the latest University issued anti-virus solution installed on your desktop and/or laptop computer so that viruses such as Mydoom, Gaobot, and Bugbear can be deleted or quarantined; your anti-virus definitions must be kept current in order for the anti-virus software to be effective.
  5. Keep the patches and fixes for your operating system(s) and the applications that you run up to date; software vulnerabilities can cause your computer to be compromised.
  6. Do not open e-mail from senders that you do not know.
  7. Be aware of titled and untitled e-mail from senders that you do know; such e-mail may be the result of a virus compromising the e-mail address book of the sender.
  8. Secure your computer and sensitive information before you step away from your desk; for example, with Microsoft NT 4.0 Workstation, Windows 2000 Professional, or Windows XP Professional computers, a user can press the CTRL- ALT- DEL keys simultaneously and select the Lock Computer button; the user can simply type in his or her password to access the computer.
  9. Utilize a firewall. A firewall can be hardware or software that can prevent unwanted guests from accessing a computer or a network. A firewall must be configured properly in order for it to be effective. Tight firewall restrictions may prevent access to necessary network resources.

If you suspect that your computer is compromised, contact the Aggie HelpDesk through e-mail at helpdesk@ncat.edu or by dialing 334-7195.