Cybersecurity Awareness

IT Email Communications Best Practices

Email communication theory is largely different from email communication reality. If messages include phishy email characteristics they can be skipped over and miss their intended audience. Plus, they cause concern for the reader who, instead of focusing on the message, focuses on the validity of the email.

Additionally, if emails are hastily written, include too much information (or don't include enough) they can be dismissed by the reader. A balance has to be struck and unfortunately, it's an...

Browser Extensions: How to Vet and Install Safely

What is an extension?

A browser extension is essentially a small piece of software that performs a function or adds a feature to a browser client. Since extensions are given special authorizations within the browser, they are attractive targets for attackers.

How to use extensions (more) safely

Even though extensions can be risky, if used correctly, they can be extremely beneficial. It’s especially important to research extensions if you are using an application that accesses...

Mass Email Communication Guideline

Mass email communications have a higher bar to clear in order not to get blocked by spam filters. Messages can miss the intended audience if they include phishy email characteristics. By following these rules you help ensure campus email recipients remain sensitized to characteristics that are typical of phishing messages and reduce the chance that your message gets blocked.

Communicators should follow these basic guidelines to help messages from being blocked:

Provide sufficient...

Box Collaboration Guidelines

Overview

Box has designed its service to allow users to collaborate on content using one of two features: 1) inviting collaborators or 2) sending share links to your content. Although these features enable easy collaboration of folders and files, extra precautions are necessary to ensure that data is shared with authorized users only. The best way to do that is to set the correct permissions to ensure the security and privacy of your data. In the following sections, we will discuss how to share your content safely.

This document assumes that...

Security Basics: 101

The basics of campus information security boil down to the following three concerns: Protecting Yourself, Protecting Devices, and Protecting Data

Protecting Yourself

Protect your personal information by following guidelines for managing passwords, learning how to avoid phishing scams, and by remembering secure computing practices at all times.

collapse all...

How to Protect Against SQL Injection Attacks

What is SQL Injection?

SQL injection is one of the most common web attack mechanisms utilized by attackers to steal sensitive data from organizations. While SQL Injection can affect any data-driven application that uses a SQL database, it is most often used to attack web sites.

SQL Injection is a code injection technique that hackers can use to insert malicious SQL statements into input fields for execution by the underlying SQL database. This technique is made possible because of improper coding of vulnerable web applications.

These flaws arise because...

Email Encryption Guide

Due to the ease of use and near-universal adoption, many individuals and campus departments use email as a primary form of communication for University business. While this works well for many purposes, remember that email is not a secure form of communication and should never be used to transmit restricted data or sensitive information.

Even if a secure email client is used (as is required by bCal), email is not encrypted as it passes between mail servers and may be forwarded by the receiving user to a mail server that does not require a secure client. Also, the identity of the...

How to Protect Against Technical Support Scams

What are Technical Support scams?

In a Technical Support scam, a scam artist will try to contact you by phone or initiate contact via a website (often through a pop-up window in your web browser). The scammer will claim to be a representative from Microsoft, or sometimes pretend to be from UC Berkeley Technical Support. They will highlight common concerns regarding your computer, such as viruses or malware. They will offer to "fix" these manufactured issues by connecting to your system.

What is the possible impact of such scams?

The goal of the scammer is to gain remote access to...

Top 10 Secure Computing Tips

Top Ten Secure Computing Tips"Top 10" List of Secure Computing Tips Tip #1 - You are a target to hackers

Don't ever say, "It won't happen to me." We are all at risk and the stakes are high - both for your personal and financial well-being and for the university's standing and reputation.

Cybersecurity is everyone's...

Cleaning an Infected Computer of Malware

If the system has any data classified as Protection Level 4 (P4)
disconnect it from the network - don't turn it off or unplug it - and
immediately contact at (510) 664-9000 (option 4)

Attackers often leave “backdoors” on a compromised computer and removing them all can be difficult, if not impossible. We recommend reinstalling your operating...