Preventing Network Security Breaches

Learn about network security breaches at universities and find out what UCSD is doing to prevent problems like these.

Background

The number of security breaches occurring in higher education environments is increasing as malicious actors turn their attention towards universities, resulting in interruption to services, theft of confidential or proprietary data, and exposure of personal information.

All members of the UCSD community are obligated to respect and protect private information, whether it is transmitted and stored electronically (e.g., e-mail) or in print. Individuals are responsible for the information under their control. Responsibility for protecting individual privacy is a part of everyone's job.

What you can do to help prevent security breaches

• Follow appropriate password hygiene practices.
• Ensure that your computer meets the campus minimum network security standards.
• Secure your workstation and data, as well as your laptop and mobile devices.
• Use the campus virtual private network to safely access network resources from off campus.
• Secure personal information. If you use and/or store private information such as Social Security, credit card, or driver's license numbers, examine all of the business processes you undertake for the University and ensure that the retrieval and/or storage of private information within your office setting is absolutely necessary for such processes.
• Discuss full disk encryption with your department technical support personnel.
• Report suspected security violations to your department's technical support personnel. If you don't know who they are, contact the ITS Service Desk, (858) 246-4357 or ext. 6-HELP.
• Answer "yes" to the following statements:
  • Access to all private information I work with is protected and restricted on a need-to-know basis.
  • Access to my computer and other information technology equipment assigned to me is password-protected.
  • I log off my computer or use a screensaver password when I leave my workstation.
  • Information on my screen is kept hidden from visitors to my work area.
  • All sensitive papers, printouts, etc., are secured during the day when I leave my work area and locked up during non-work hours.
  • My computer has up-to-date operating system software, anti-virus software, and software application patches.

What UC San Diego is doing to prevent network security breaches

• Network security: See security controls that are in place.
• Computer security: Review security responsibilities at UC San Diego.
• Preventing identity theft: Learn about UC San Diego's responsibilities.
• Single Sign-On: Find out about UC San Diego's one-stop sign-on process.
• Computer Incident Response Team (CIRT) Process: Learn how the Team responds to a security incident.