On the front lines of cyber security

By Ben Wiebesiek • wiebesib@mscd.edu

For Metro students, “An e-mail sent to you was quarantined.” is a common message in their inboxes and a reminder of the faceless security system protecting them and their personal information from the threats of the cyber world.

But most students have no idea how this security system operates or how it stops the menagerie of viruses, phishing attempts, scams, and Nigerian money offers looking for new victims.

Information Security, a part of the Division of Information Technology, is a three-person team tasked with defending the front lines of cyber security for the college. Known within the IT department as the security team, this trio monitors both incoming and outgoing e-mails and frequently-updated threat lists to alert students, staff and faculty to current dangers. But the safety team has a message for students at Metro: the security of personal information online is a two-way street.

“Always think twice,” Hoadley said. “If you get an e-mail asking you to confirm your e-mail and your password and your date of birth, ask yourself, ‘why do they need this information?’ Why would your bank or Metro need your date of birth? We already have your information, and why would we need it in a hurry? Even if the e-mail looks official, don’t trust it with your personal information.”

In addition to day-to-day protection from hackers and viruses, the Division of Information Security also is in charge of development, documentation, and testing of disaster recovery plans.

These disasters are not just hypothetical, South Korea and the United States were targeted by a cyber-attack July 4 against government, news, and financial websites. Cyber-attacks are coordinated efforts to overwhelm website servers with peaks in Internet traffic.

Metro experiences natural spikes in Internet traffic from time to time, Hoadley said, but students can do their part to minimize the burden that these servers carry.

“Just because you can do something, doesn’t mean you should.” Hoadley said. “Sharing music and video files and forwarding chain e-mails put heavy and undue burdens on the information technology servers. Many of us prefer to e-mail files to ourselves, but using portable devices such as portable USB jump drives reduces the burden considerably.”

Hoadley also suggests that Metro students think carefully about the content they send.

“E-mail isn’t private. Don’t send anything in your messages that you wouldn’t want to see on the front page of your newspaper.” Hoadley said.