GENERAL COMPUTER SECURITY TIPS

Don't use e-mail for confidential matters. Unless you take special precautions, there is not much more privacy in e-mail than there is when you send a postcard through the mail.

Choose a password that is hard to guess. (At least seven characters, no dictionary words, use special characters (e.g. @, !, *, $, #) and a mixture of upper and lower case characters). Weak passwords have been one source of computer break-ins on campus recently.

Guard your laptop when you travel. Laptop thefts in airports are on the rise. Don't lose sight of your laptop, especially during airport security check-in.

Back up your data and store backups in a different location from your computer. (It's no accident that this tops the list. One of the single biggest security problems is that data were not backed up.)

Make sure that you are not using unauthorized copies of commercial software. Organizations (including universities) have paid fines for software copyright violations

Change your password frequently.

Make sure your computer is protected from power surges

Obtain the current versions of anti-virus software.