New York State is trying to get ahead of the growing number of people who are after all sorts of personal and other valuable data.
University At Albany College of Computing Dean Peter Bloniarz will chair a Cyber-Security Board. He calls it a growing concern for hospitals, schools, tax and other state agencies.
“The Internet is a fact of daily life and people use that for good and also nefarious purposes. One of our objectives is to be able to use social media both to make people aware of issues as well as to analyze data that can be helpful in thwarting activities,” said Bloniarz.
Bloniarz calls it a “Blue Ribbon” panel of experts that will make recommendations for possible policy changes with one simple goal.
“There’s a lot going on in cyber security, a lot at the federal level, a lot in the private sector. What specific things are important to New York State that we should be investing our time and energy in and also investing our resources in."
Governor Cuomo set up the panel, after mentioning it in his State of the State address. Bloniarz says cyber security is increasingly a fact of life for state departments, businesses and private citizens.
This announcement comes during Cyber Security Month. Syracuse University is observing Cyber Security Month by focusing on the most difficult and widespread security issues when it comes to information be put online.
One of the most powerful threats to cyber security is the act of phishing. The following is a list of ways to protect yourself from these kinds of cyber attacks.
- Be suspicious of any email that asks you to click a link.
- Verify the URL of any link before you click it by hovering your cursor over the link. If you don't recognize the URL, don't click the link.
- Never open attachments unless you have verified that the sender is who they appear to be in the message.
- Delete any suspicious emails, before opening them if possible.
- Don't provide credentials to a website if you are not 100 percent sure of its validity.
- Keep your computer software updated and patched.
- Make sure your computer's firewall is installed and running.
- Remember that nobody at SU will ever ask for your NetID or password for any reason other than when you're logging in to an SU system. If somebody does, they don't represent the University or any of its offices.
Information and Technology Services at Syracuse University will be holding workshops and events during the course of the month.
These websites also provide more information about ways to protect your information and to avoid cyber phishing and other cyber attacks.
