Information Protection and Security

The UK government has been accused of failing to protect citizens' privacy by the European Commission.

Each year we issue a reminder regarding the need to protect personal confidential information to which we have been granted access in order to fulfill the requirements of our job functions.  The protection of this information, also known as “Non-Public Personal Information” (NPPI), is mandated by federal and state law, as well as Rutgers policy (e.g., Rutgers Policy 50.3.9,

Police in three Ohio cities are investigating the theft of three large storage bins from bank branches earlier this month. The storage bins were used to store paper waiting to be shredded. The most puzzling part of the theft is how the thief was able to remove the bins, which were reported to weigh more than 500 pounds each.

Dear Colleagues,

Each year we issue a reminder regarding the need to protect personal
confidential information to which we have been granted access in order
to fulfill the requirements of our job functions. The protection of
this information, also known as "Non-Public Personal Information"
(NPPI), is mandated by federal and state law, as well as Rutgers policy
(e.g., Rutgers Policy 50.3.9, http://policies.rutgers.edu).

All units and staff members that create, store, or transmit such
information are required to do so in a manner which protects NPPI.

I haven’t found a better way than a password protected screensaver to protect my computer from "unauthorized users" when it’s unattended.

October is National Cyber Security Awareness Month, and Google paid homage to that fact by offering a brief tutorial on creating stronger passwords.  
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Patents, copyrights, know-how and disclosures are all important parts of university research.  Make sure research notes and other confidential data are protected from online view and within any contractual agreement. Mobile equipment (laptop) is not appropriate to store informationlike research due to the ease of loss. 

"Apart from accessing the user's Webmail accounts, e-mail addresses are commonly used to log into social networking sites,” Wood said. “So with a successful phishing attack, the bad guys not only gain access to an individual's e-mail account, but also a variety of other sites that may be linked to that account. People should be advised not to share the same password for these sites and should change their passwords at least every 90 days."

Microsoft confirmed thousands of Hotmail customers had their usernames and passwords posted recently on a third-party site as a result of a likely phishing attack. An investigation by Microsoft has determined that there was no breach of internal data on the company's part.
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Users need to be able to recognize illicit attempts to elicit their account information.Microsoft recommends customers use the following protective security measures: