Security Matters

Last week we talked about why using the same password for all of your online accounts, password re-use, was fatal in the era of the daily data breach. This week we’re going to show you some ways to create strong, unique passwords and how to organize them. Making strong, unique passwords is tough. You’ve probably ...

On May 5th, 2017 a massive trove of 457,962,538 stolen usernames and passwords from various data breaches known as the “Anti-Public” list was uploaded onto the Internet for any criminal to use. It might surprise you to find out that online crooks freely share and trade these password caches, or that data breaches are practically ...

Originally published via U of T News Currently, no incidents of malware infection have been reported to U of T’s information security team since the WannaCry attack began on Friday. WannaCry targets unpatched Microsoft Windows computers and then locks the machine’s contents from the user – pending the payment of a ransom amount. WannaCry propagates ...

Ever get a computer virus from an e-mail? Know someone who has? The answer to both of these questions is usually a resounding “yes.” Despite the fact that e-mail has been around for a few decades there are a ton of glaring security flaws in one of the web’s most common mediums for communication. E-mail ...

It’s four o’clock in the afternoon on a Thursday. You’re over the work week hump, vacation day tomorrow, maybe. The phone buzzes. It’s Gmail, letting you know that your friend Joe has invited you to edit a Google Doc. You open the invite and click on the big blue “Open in Docs” button like you’ve ...

We are pleased to announce a new resource available to our community, the Phish Bowl. It is as simple as it sounds! As we spot phishing emails circulating U of T inboxes, we will post the message contents and a screenshot of the message to our collection of phishing emails in the Phish Bowl.  By providing a collection of ...

Spotlight on Travel Security While you may think you don’t have anything to hide, your personal privacy and protecting institutional data are important considerations when planning to travel for leisure or work. In this climate of heightened border security, where device searches at the border are prominent in the news, we thought this would be ...

A message from U of T’s Central Payroll Services It is tax time again and with that we see an increase in the number of fraudulent communications claiming to be from the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA). These include phishing emails, calls, texts or mail. Please be aware that the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) does not: ...