Week 3: October is (still) National Cybersecurity Awareness Month and we (still) want you to act

We are well into the  21st Annual Cybersecurity Awareness Month.  Hopefully you’ve read and acted on our first two requests:

• Week 1: Remove the claremont-etc network from your devices.
• Week 2: Update your software and watch for phishing attempts.

This week, we’re on to the subject of passwords.  

What?

If you are not yet using a password manager, we’d like you to start using one. This afternoon, faculty and staff will receive an invitation to sign up for the college’s LastPass offering, which is free to you and your families.

Why?

A password manager will make it easy to generate and remember long complex passphrases that are different for all your accounts. They can be used across all your devices and are independent of the browser you are using.  They also help you identify passwords that are weak.  And they allow you to share passwords securely if you need to.

How?

When you receive the invitation email this afternoon, please follow the instructions to sign up for your LastPass account.  If you like, either now or in the future, you can also take advantage of the free family account that is separate from your HMC LastPass account, but includes most of the same features.

And?

If you already have a password manager, hopefully it has a feature to check for weak passwords.  Please consider using that feature today.

Remember, the User Support Team is offering cybersecurity office hours on Friday mornings from 10:30 am to noon.  Drop by the Help Desk in Sprague to get help with any of the practical suggestions we provide or review what you have in place to protect your own data as well as the college’s data.