This October, NC will participate in Cyber Security Awareness month, an internationally recognized campaign, to inform staff, faculty and students at NC of the importance of cyber security. From being more secure in your online activities, to being informed and taking simple steps to better protect yourself, your family, and the college community – cyber security is everyone’s responsibility.
In 2019, cyber hackers are constantly trying to gain access to computer networks and information assets. Niagara College is not immune to these attempts, and protecting against them is a priority. The start of the school year is an especially busy time for such attacks at the College.
In the last year, the college email security system has processed over 26 million email messages. Of those messages, almost 22 million were identified as originating from known bad sources and blocked. A further half-million were flagged as spam or viruses from new sources. These were blocked and reported by the systems to our email security vendor.
“As you can see, our systems do a good job, but email still remains the number one attack method for cyber-criminal activity,” said Dave Hogan, IT Security officer at Niagara College. “They constantly evolve their tactics to get past security systems. If you’ve ever spotted a phishing email in your inbox, they’ve figured out a way around the systems. This is why cyber security awareness is so important. The concept of the human firewall is the last and best defense against phishing attacks.”
October is #CyberSecurityMonth!
This weeks theme is looking at how cyber threats work.
To learn more about Cyber Security, check out @GetCyberSafe and visit: t.co/HH9T1juF79 pic.twitter.com/IGjfgjnLX0
— Niagara College (@niagaracollege) October 1, 2019
In December 2018, staff and faculty were asked to participate in mandatory cyber-security training to help strengthen NC’s defense against phishing emails. The results of that training – which included a simulated phishing exercise – are in. Of the 80% of employees (1,610) who participated, 98.2% passed.
The results are promising, but employees must continue to educate themselves on cyber security to keep their awareness sharp as hackers become more sophisticated and even more persistent.
Simulated phishing activities continue to be conducted by ITS through the year in which employees randomly receive emails that closely approximate actual phishing attempts. Robust cyber-security training such as this has been proven to reduce the risk of successful phishing attacks. This and many other steps towards securing and protecting the NC network are being taken every day and behind the scenes by staff in ITS.
For tips and resources on how to protect yourself online, visit getcybersafe.ca. For NC-specific resources, visit the ITS website.
