Information Security – On and Off Campus

While studying remotely it's important to take precautions to keep your digital life private and learning environment secure.

Technology plays an important role in your life, both on and off campus. It is how you socialise with other students, and stay connected with family and friends. It also supports your learning. With technology being ever-more present in your education journey at SAIBT/CELUSA, we want to ensure you have the knowledge to keep your digital life private and learning environment secure.

1. Stay safe when socialising online

Scammers use social media to make their approaches more personal. They learn a lot about you from your online profile, including who your family and friends are, and where you study and live. Take the following actions on your social media platforms to reduce the scammers’ ability to obtain information they want

• Set your social media accounts to ‘private’

• Set a strong password and turn on two-factor authentication if available

• Don’t share sensitive information on social media platforms

2. Avoid phishing scams

Phishing emails mimic legitimate institutions such as a college, university or bank. The emails will ask you to provide information such as your login, bank account number or residential information. They are often written in a manner to create fear, a sense of urgency or panic in an attempt to drive you to click on a link and obtain sensitive information.

To avoid phishing scams look out for the following warning signs:

• Similar, but not quite matching email addresses, for example - firstname.lastname@gmail.com being translated to firstnane.lastnane@gmail.com

• Email wording designed to create fear, panic or urgency

3. Update software regularly

Software updates are released by software vendors to address security bugs. Hackers target these bugs and use them to obtain your personal information or to render your computer unusable. Windows and Apple provide guidance on how to update their Operating Systems. It is important that you follow the update recommendations provided by vendors for all software or apps that you have installed on your personal device.

4. Be cautious when using unsecured WiFi networks

Thanks to innovations such as mobile technology and WiFi you can move around your accommodation, campus and other locations down the street and connect to many free WiFi networks. This is certainly convenient; however, this convenience comes with Information Security risks.

Unsecure WiFi networks allow the transfer of information without encryption. This means a hacker could intercept information you send over the WiFi network, including usernames, passwords and other sensitive information. If you are using an unsecured network it is recommended that you do not log into any of your college or personal accounts or share sensitive information.

5. Install anti-virus software

Viruses, spyware and other malicious software or malicious code (malware) can stop your personal computers working properly, delete or corrupt your files, steal information, or allow hackers to access your personal information.

We strongly recommend installing anti-virus software on your personal computers. Anti-virus software is an effective controls for preventing hackers from gaining access to your personal computers and the information you have stored.

Navitas has a dedicated Information Security Team who is happy to answer any questions that you might have. Please email the team and they will respond as soon as possible.