IT Professionals,
Faculty and staff who are traveling this holiday season, especially those traveling internationally, face increased risks of having university data or devices compromised or stolen. The top story in this week’s Monitor will highlight these increased risks and encourage employees to contact their IT Professionals for assistance in preparing for holiday and overseas travel.
The Information Security Office and the Chief Information Security Officer recommend the following:
- Use a light touch. Don’t try to limit your faculty/staff too much, as some will find workarounds that are even less secure.
- Keep things simple and minimal. For example, smaller devices such as tablets and phones are better, because travelers are less likely to leave them in hotel rooms where they can be stolen or modified (e.g., implanted with a keystroke logger). Smaller devices are also more difficult to modify and they can be wiped remotely.
- Be enrolled in and prepared to use the remote wipe capabilities provided by the manufacturer(such as Apple’s iCloud) or IU (Exchange ActiveSync).
- Remind faculty and staff to contact the University Information Policy Office [1] if their device is stolen.
- Have faculty enroll a secondary Duo device.
- Encourage faculty to use VPN where possible, noting that it may be blocked in some countries.
- Set up full disk encryption on mobile devices.
IU has a number of resources to help faculty, students, and staff guard against and report such threats. These include the UITS Support Center [2] and the Office of the Associate Vice President for Information Security web pages [3]. Please encourage faculty and staff to review the tips for travelers for securing mobile devices while traveling [4].
–IT Community Partnerships on behalf of the University Information Security Office
[1] If your device is stolen: https://kb.iu.edu/d/avbx
[2] https://uits.iu.edu/tech-help
[3] https://protect.iu.edu/online-safety/index.html
[4] https://protect.iu.edu/online-safety/personal-preparedness/mobile-devices-traveling.html
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