IT security affects us all  [07.04.21]

Dear University members,

KIM regularly informs about innovations and important information regarding the services of KIM and IT security on the homepage, with "Kurz gemeldet," and in the university's own newsletter.

Due to the Covid-19 crisis, digitization has taken a big step forward in many areas. Working and studying have largely shifted from the campus to home. In addition to the expansion of the IT infrastructure, the number of end devices used has increased sharply. The regular provision of security updates shows that software programs are not necessarily free of security vulnerabilities. Criminals are increasingly trying to attack the extensive digitization process and profit from it.

Overall, it can currently be observed that attacks are being carried out with increasing frequency, with the help of which access data is to be tapped without authorization, as you may have been able to gather from recent media reports.

Against this background, you, the users, and your end devices are of particular importance for IT security at the university.

Right now, we would like to point out two recent news items:

Your user password is the central authentication feature along with your user ID. The complexity of your user password determines whether your user account can be compromised, for example, by systematic trial and error or by "guessing" the password. It also cannot be ruled out that access data can be tapped from internal or external services, in particular on an end device that is not regularly updated or is operated without an up-to-date virus scanner. In addition, for user accounts that are not used often, irregularities are not immediately noticeable. Therefore, please check your user accounts regularly and be sure to use different passwords for different IT services (both internal and external to the university).

Matters that concern us all, can only be solved by us all," noted Friedrich Dürrenmatt in point 17 of the 21 points to the physicists. IT security affects us all and is therefore a task for all of us. For an introduction to the topic of IT security and as a basis, we provide learning modules for laypersons that explain the terms and discuss what users should pay attention to. You can find information on these modules in the following news item:

Breaks are possible during the learning modules, so that the individual learning modules can be optimally combined with your schedule.

If you have any questions about this, please email the KIM.


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