Information Security

Mission Statement

The Information Security Office is committed to lowering the risk profile of the University’s electronic information by implementing industry best practices to protect the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of student, faculty, and staff information. We uphold the University’s compliance obligations by developing information security policies, providing security awareness training, and overseeing the implementation of strategic information security initiatives.

Scam of the Week

This Fake Warrant Wants Your Wallet

In this week’s scam, you receive a frightening phone call from someone claiming to be a law enforcement officer. They tell you there is a warrant for your arrest because you missed jury duty, failed to appear in court, or owe unpaid taxes. They might even use your real name, tell you their badge number, or give you a specific court case number. All this information may lead you to believe that you are in serious legal trouble.

However, this is actually a vishing, or voice phishing, scam! You’re not speaking to a real law enforcement officer, but a cybercriminal who is trying to make you panic. Their goal is to scare you into acting without thinking. They will ask you to pay a fine by wiring money, purchasing gift cards, or sending cryptocurrency if you want to avoid being arrested. Remember, you aren’t actually in any legal trouble, and if you pay this “fine”, you’ll be giving your money directly to a scammer!

Follow these tips to avoid falling victim to a vishing scam:

If someone calls you and threatens to arrest you unless you pay a fine immediately, it’s a scam. Cybercriminals often try to scare you into acting without thinking.
Keep in mind that cybercriminals can search online for public information, such as a case or badge number, and use it to make their scams appear more convincing.
Real law enforcement agencies will never ask you to pay a fine using gift cards, wire transfers, or cryptocurrency. If anyone asks for these payment methods, hang up.

Time It Takes a Hacker to Brute Force Your Password in 2023

Number of Characters	Number Only	Lowercase Letters	Upper and Lower Case Letters	Numbers, Upper and Lowercase Letters	Numbers, Upper and Lowercase Letters, Symbols
4	Instantly	Instantly	Instantly	Instantly	Instantly
5	Instantly	Instantly	Instantly	Instantly	Instantly
6	Instantly	Instantly	Instantly	Instantly	Instantly
7	Instantly	Instantly	Instantly	Instantly	Instantly
8	Instantly	Instantly	Instantly	Instantly	1 sec
9	Instantly	Instantly	4 secs	21 secs	1 min
10	Instantly	Instantly	4 mins	22 mins	1 hour
11	Instantly	6 secs	3 hours	22 hours	4 days
12	Instantly	2 mins	7 days	2 months	8 months
13	Instantly	1 hour	12 months	10 years	47 years
14	Instantly	1 day	52 years	608 years	3k years
15	2 secs	4 weeks	2k years	37k years	232k years
16	15 secs	2 years	140k years	2m years	16m years
17	3 mins	56 years	7m years	144m years	1bn years
18	26 mins	1k years	378m years	8bn years	79bn years