Cybercriminals use phishing—a type of social engineering—to manipulate people into doing what they want. Social engineering is at the heart of all phishing attacks, especially those conducted via e-mail. Technology makes phishing easy. Setting up and operating a phishing attack is fast, inexpensive, and low risk: any cybercriminal with an e-mail address can launch one. […]

The only way to protect yourself against valuable data loss is through regular backups. Ideally, important files should be backed up at minimum once a week, or every day, depending on how critical they are to you. This can be done manually, automatically, or using combination of the two methods. (Briefly review this 2017 backup awareness […]

Microsoft Office 365 is ending support for older, obsolete HTTPS security protocols on October 31st, 2018. The following devices and browsers are known to be incompatible with current HTTPS security protocols and may no longer be able to connect to email: Android 4.3 and earlier versions Firefox version 5.0 and earlier versions Internet Explorer 8-10 on Windows 7 and […]

GHC IT has received information from the University System of Georgia Cybersecurity office and one of their strategic technology partners about an ongoing series of phishing attacks occurring against colleges and universities in the United States. It is believed that these attacks are sponsored by the Iranian government. This type of state-sponsored cybercrime has occurred […]

The below email policy and standard have been updated, approved by Cabinet, and issued: IT.PO.180 – Email Purpose  Email is the official form of written, electronic communication for Georgia Highlands College employees and should be used accordingly. The purpose of this policy is to define appropriate use of email.   Scope  This policy applies to […]

The below Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) policy and standard for employee-owned technology in use at the institution have been updated, approved by Cabinet, and issued: IT.PO.410 – Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) Purpose The purpose of this policy is to empower Georgia Highlands College employees to utilize personal computing devices in order to work […]

What Is Ransomware? Ransomware is a type of malicious software that encrypts your files. Often, the only way to decrypt and gain access to the files is by paying a “ransom” or fee to the attackers. The attackers might provide the decryption key allowing you to regain access to your files. Ransomware may spread to […]

Google is now marking unencrypted (http) websites as ‘Not Secure’ in the newest version of Chrome. This is the first major browser that will change how it presents information about the security of websites by ‘expecting’ them to be encrypted (https) by default and warning about unencrypted websites, rather than expecting users to check for […]

It is well publicized that today’s attackers are ever vigilant in their attempts to uncover weak points in networks, computers, and mobile devices to establish a foothold and leverage vulnerabilities, thus resulting in the compromise of critical assets or personal information. Areas of concern that can lead to a breach include the lack of physical […]

It is an unfortunate reality that virtually all email users regularly receive phishing messages. An Oregon state worker fell victim to one such message last Friday. That user’s computer was hijacked and subsequently used to send over 8,000,000 spam messages over the weekend. The account sent so much spam that it caused major email services […]