Think your school’s network is safe from hackers? You might want to think again.
According to new research from security vendor OpenDNS, higher ed networks are 300% more likely to contain malware than their government and business-based counterparts.
Stop and let that sink in for a minute. 300%! It’s enough to make you think twice before connecting your laptop to your campus’ network.
Even though schools are targeted by the same basic types of cyber-attacks as other areas, they find themselves being compromised at a ridiculously higher rate.
Dan Hubbard, CTO of OpenDNS, feels that part of the blame for this gap rests on the fact that schools must support a huge variety of different devices on their networks. Businesses have the ability to be a little more selective and careful.
Higher Ed’s biggest digital threat at the moment goes by the name EXPIRO.
This nasty bit of malware invades networks when a user unknowingly visits a compromised website. From there, it helps itself to whatever user and system information it desires from the affected device and sends it along to hackers to use for their own devious purposes.
Keeping your network completely free of viruses and malware and the like is a massive task.
However, passing along these tips for safely browsing the Web to your students and faculty is a great place to start.
- Roll your mouse over a link before you click it. The destination will be displayed on the bottom left corner of the screen. Beware if the actual location doesn’t seem to match up with where the text claims it leads.
- Check for a small padlock icon before https:// at the beginning of a web address. If you see one, it means the site is safe. No padlock, however, should be a sign not to provide the site with any personal information.
- Keep students and staff in the know about the latest scams. Have your IT team regularly send out descriptions of the latest methods hackers are using to target schools.
- If you’re suspicious of a website, Google it. Or Bing it. Or Yahoo it. Whatever search engine you prefer, use it to look information up on the website. Typing in the site’s name and followed by the word “scam” into a search engine is a good way to cut to the chase.
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