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Let's Get IT TogetherDTS’s goal is to direct its efforts toward the satisfaction of the County Executive’s mission statement. DTS supports all County’s Departments in achieving their defined objectives. The purpose of this blog is to provide yet another communications channel to respond to business and technical ideas, challenges and direction. DTS leadership and staff are determined to promote innovation, improvements and seize any technology opportunities by aligning both DTS and Departmental IT resources and long term implementation initiatives that will support the missions of the County Executive. |
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Friday, May 27, 2011Summer Computing ConsiderationsWith school winding down, done for some college folks already, it is time to be more aware of schemes that could put you, your children or your financial well being at risk. With folks on the keyboard doing more surfing the internet and spending additional time looking at emails, advertisements and those pesky pop-ups, cyber thieves are on the prowl.
Make sure you continue to reinforce good internet surfing practices with your family. Remind everyone to be wary of emails with attachments and be cognizant that hidden links can be imbedded in messages to take advantage of "random mouse clicks". Even if you get an email from someone you know, if the message title seems strange or the message content doesn't fit the type of information you'd expect to get from them, DON'T open it. Check with your sender via another path (Facebook, Twitter, Text Message or the like) to see if they sent you something odd. The best way to prevent an attack is to just be on guard as you surf.
Change your passwords. One of the most common ways that your information can be compromised is by using a simple password that you haven't changed. A few months ago, I got an email from someone I knew asking why I was sending them some weird emails with links to some pretty racy sites. Turned out, my email account had been hacked and someone used my online address book to attack my friends and co-workers. I was pretty lucky, my friends checked with me and it had only been a couple of hours, so a simple password change and those annoying emails came to a halt. Use the recommended password strength that states using a password of at least eight (8) characters long, a combination of upper and lower case letters, one or more numbers or special characters. Never make a password a derivative of your name or a common phrase (e.g. Whoareyou?). Following these rules will prevent getting your identity exposed and you'll enjoy your summertime computing, rather than dealing with the financial woes of identity theft.
Have a Safe Great and Enjoyable Computing Summer!!
Tuesday, November 09, 2010Don't Post in Email What You Don't Want Others to SeeEmail and text messaging have become the most popular modes of communication, soon to surpass the use of voice on the phone. As a result, many people take for granted that the messages and emails are rarely secure and at any given time, information hijacking can take place. A recent example of what can happen is illustrated in Government Computer News. http://gcn.com/articles/2010/11/08/gsa-data-breach.aspx?s=gcndaily_091110 The lesson learned is that email and text message content should NEVER include private, personal or confidential information. While the odds that your message will be prey to hackers and information hijackers may be remote, the risk of it happening is increasing day to day. Information bandits are always looking at new ways to gain access to vulnerable information systems and they know that people use email and messaging frequently without regard to information compromise. The lessons here are simple:
Use emails and text messages wisely! Friday, September 24, 2010Don't become a Cyber VictimYou can prevent becoming a cyber victim by being extra cautious when you receive emails from people you don’t know. Cyber email “scams” that ask you to reply with your user ID and passwords are not likely credible and open you up to quick security breaches by the author. Many emails look like they have been sent to you by valid companies, but the “click here” link that they provide may not be going to the advertised vendor’s secure site, but to a site where cyber criminals collect confidential data to hack into systems or to steal identities.
Avoid becoming a victim by NEVER using email to divulge personal information like passwords, account numbers, social security information or other data that is unique to you. If you do use the internet for business and financial transactions, go to the websites for those companies and review their security policies. Most will tell you how they will contact you and how to report suspicious emails and requests.
Don’t become a victim by reacting. Cyber criminals use emotion to get you to respond quickly without thinking about the information you might be asked to provide.
Cyber criminals will use all the tactics and tools to get your information. Stop, read, understand and verify before responding. It could be YOU as the next victim if you let cyber criminal outthink you.
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 Chief Information Officer: Sonny Segal
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