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MCC Daily Tribune

Cyber Security Awareness

October is Cyber Security Awareness Month, and as you know, raising information security awareness is important to our College.

I am pleased to announce that Technology Services has partnered with SUNY to use KnowBe4, which is the world's leading Security Awareness Training organization. KnowBe4 will help us create a "human firewall" which can protect us against malicious emails. This state-of-the-art program includes security awareness training and simulated phishing attacks.

This month we will begin by sending out a simulated phishing email to set a baseline and determine how at-risk we are to these type of attacks. Next, we will schedule training and regular phishing tests for employees. To get started, everyone will take a 15-minute Cyber Security Awareness Refresher Training.

Users that click on phishing campaign emails will be required to take additional training more frequently than those who do not, to help them learn to avoid phishing scams. Certain departments that handle particularly risky or sensitive data can also be assigned specific training courses.

Our end goal is to increase security awareness and decrease the number of clicks on malicious emails. Why is this important? Because these things have happened to your MCC colleagues when they clicked on phishing emails:

  • Keylogger malware was installed on their work PC, and when they logged into their bank account from work, the keylogger captured their user ID and password. The cybercriminals then used the user id and password to sign into the bank account and steal thousands of dollars
  • PC's were infected with malware and stopped functioning, interrupting their work day(s) until the PC could be replaced
  • Users have lost important files, documents and photos stored on their local PC drive when their infected PC was replaced

We are excited to have the new KnowBe4 program in place to help us all strengthen our ability to recognize and avoid phishing attacks.

Hezekiah Simmons
Administrative Services
10/10/2019