Awarness: Passwords

If someone manages to find out your university password, the first and most important step for a successful attack on our IT infrastructure has been taken. The protective measures in the data centres are then only partially effective, because the password legitimises access to the services and resources that are activated for you. Persons with malicious intent can then look around the university's infrastructure at their leisure and unnoticed and plan what to do next. Your password could fall into unauthorised hands in a number of ways:

• You have fallen for a phishing email.
• Your password is listed on "password lists" on the Internet. These are made up of passwords that were captured during attacks on companies/Internet services and have been circulating on the Internet ever since.
• Your computer is infected with malicious software (malware) that reads or records your passwords.
• Your password is easy to guess.

Your handling of your university password plays a decisive role in how well our university is protected against cyber attacks. You support our efforts by:

• choose a strong password.
• use the password only for the university ID.
• keep the password safe.
• never share the password.

Also, inform us immediately if you:

• have been taken in by a phishing e-mail or suspect that someone may have obtained your password.
• suspect that your service computer has been infected with malware.

Security advice: Experience has shown that the Christmas period and the turn of the year are unfortunately also phishing times. Please be especially attentive and careful in the coming weeks!

And finally, have fun with Kevin!

Kevin learns about Password Security

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