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The goal of National Cyber Security Awareness Month (NCSAM) – celebrated every October – is to ensure that all Americans have the resources they need to stay safer and more secure online. Check out these offerings to find an event near you, or a webinar of interest.

***highlighted event***

Oct 16, 11AM-1PM
UCOP Cyber Security Awareness Month Forum
UCOP, 1111 Franklin St., Oakland, CA, Lobby 1 Conference Room

To our campus community,

We are implementing some necessary updates to our Wi-Fi network that will require some action on your part. On Oct. 2, 2018 at 7 a.m., the Airbears2 and eduroam wireless networks will be updated with a new certificate. After this update is complete, devices attempting to connect to either wireless network will be presented with a message similar to one of the three examples shown below (message will vary based on the device and operating system you are using):

Example 1: MacOS X 10.13 (MacBook Air)

The new school year is an exciting time for students, faculty, and staff. It's also an exciting time for hackers, identity thieves, and other unscrupulous types who take advantage of people during this busy time of year. 

If you an IT Security professional and want to join a talented and dynamic team, check out our available job openings at: https://security.berkeley.edu/about/job-postings

NSF’s new Research Terms and Conditions (effective March 1, 2018) require recipients of NSF funding to protect Personally Identifiable Information within the scope of an NSF award.  Article 35 states:  

The Campus Policy for Minimum Security Standards for Electronic Information (MSSEI) [1] requires departments to register computer systems and applications containing restricted data.  Restricted Data is defined as "any confidential or personal information that is protected by law or policy, and that requires the highest level of access control and security protections whether in storage or in transit" [2]  and further refined based on adverse business impact into "High" or Protection Level 2 and "Moderate" or Protection Level 1. [3]

The Internal Revenue Service has reported a big spike in phishing and malware incidents during the 2016 and 2017 tax seasons.

To the campus community,

As tax season begins, W-2 wage statements have already begun to be made available online this week.  Last year, several convincing phishing messages were crafted by tax scammers and sent to Campus to trick victims into divulging personal information for criminal purposes.

These fraudsters use your stolen credentials and tax documents to commit identity theft, and file a fraudulent tax return with the IRS in order to collect a refund using your identity.

October is National Cyber Security Awareness Month (NCSAM), an annual campaign to raise awareness about cyber security. The NCSAM is designed to engage and educate by providing tools and resources to stay safe online, with the goal of increasing resiliency in the event of a cyber incident.

The US-CERT (US Computer Emergency Readiness Team) has issued a recent alert concerning ransomware.  Ransomware is a type of malicious software that infects a computer and restricts users’ access to it until a ransom is paid to unlock it.  The alert warns that in early 2016, destructive ransomware variants such as

As the 2015 tax deadline approaches, tax scams are ratcheting up.  The IRS has reported an increase in tax scams, especially by phone.  Some of the most common scams involve con-artists who pretend to be from the IRS and call victims telling them they have to pay right now, or else. 

Don't believe it - the IRS has formal processes in place for people with tax issues, and angry harassing calls like these are not how the IRS does business.  The IRS will NEVER:

You may have noticed changes to the Information Security and Policy website beginning October 1st!

We've migrated our site to the Open Berkeley platform. The new site includes: