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

Don't Let Malware Crash Your Party

In this week’s scam, you receive an email invitation that appears to be from Punchbowl, a popular website for sending digital greeting cards and party invites. The email includes an invitation to an event and instructs you to select a link to see more details. It might even include a note suggesting you open it on a laptop or desktop computer for the best experience.

However, this is actually a phishing scam! The email is not really from Punchbowl, and you haven’t actually been invited to anything. If you select the link in the email, it will download malware, or malicious software, onto your device. This software can give cybercriminals control of your device and let them steal your private information!

Follow these tips to avoid falling victim to this phishing scam:

Check the sender's email address. If the invite comes from a personal email account or a strange-looking web address, it is not a real Punchbowl invitation.
Beware of odd requests, like being told to open an invitation on a specific device. Hackers often use these instructions to bypass security and install malware.
Always use caution if you receive an unexpected email, especially if it instructs you to select a link. If you receive a suspicious email, be sure to report it!

Time It Takes a Hacker to Brute Force Your Password in 2025
Hardware: 12 x RTX 5090 | Password hash: bcrypt(10)

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	57 minutes	2 hours	4 hours
6	Instantly	46 minutes	2 days	6 Days	2 weeks
7	Instantly	20 hours	4 months	1 year	2 years
8	Instantly	3 weeks	15 years	62 years	164 years
9	2 hours	2 years	791 years	3k years	11k years
10	1 day	40 years	41k years	238k years	803k years
11	1 week	1k years	2m years	14m years	56m years
12	3 months	27k years	111m years	917m years	3bn years
13	3 years	705k years	5bn years	56bn years	275bn years
14	28 years	18m years	300bn years	3tn years	19tn years
15	284 years	477m years	15tn years	218tn years	1qd years
16	2k years	12bn years	812tn years	13qd years	94qd years
17	28k years	322bn years	42qd years	840qd years	6qn years
18	284k years	8tn years	2qn years	52qn years	463qn years