Information Security

Mission Statement

The Information Security Office is committed to lowering the risk profile of the University’s electronic information by implementing industry best practices to protect the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of student, faculty, and staff information. We uphold the University’s compliance obligations by developing information security policies, providing security awareness training, and overseeing the implementation of strategic information security initiatives.

Scam of the Week

A Pointless Smishing Scam

In this week’s scam, cybercriminals send you a text message claiming you have reward points that are about to expire. The message appears to come from a well-known organization, such as your mobile service provider or your bank. It warns that you have thousands of points that will disappear in just a few days unless you act now. The message includes a link and instructs you to select it to claim your rewards.

However, this is a smishing, or text phishing, scam! If you select the link, you will be directed to a fake website and asked to provide your user credentials or banking information to claim your rewards. But if you enter any information on this page, cybercriminals will steal it immediately!

Follow these tips to avoid falling victim to this smishing scam:

If you receive a text message that claims you have rewards points that are about to expire, don’t select any links. Instead, use the organization's official mobile app or website to check your account.
Cybercriminals use urgent language and the threat of short deadlines, such as "expiring soon," to trick you into acting quickly. Always stop and think before you act!
If you receive a suspicious text message, do not reply, as this could let scammers know that your phone number is active. Instead, report the message to your mobile provider so they can block similar messages in the future.

Time It Takes a Hacker to Brute Force Your Password in 2025
Hardware: 12 x RTX 5090 | Password hash: bcrypt(10)

Number of Characters	Number Only	Lowercase Letters	Upper and Lower Case Letters	Numbers, Upper and Lowercase Letters	Numbers, Upper and Lowercase Letters, Symbols
4	Instantly	Instantly	Instantly	Instantly	Instantly
5	Instantly	Instantly	57 minutes	2 hours	4 hours
6	Instantly	46 minutes	2 days	6 Days	2 weeks
7	Instantly	20 hours	4 months	1 year	2 years
8	Instantly	3 weeks	15 years	62 years	164 years
9	2 hours	2 years	791 years	3k years	11k years
10	1 day	40 years	41k years	238k years	803k years
11	1 week	1k years	2m years	14m years	56m years
12	3 months	27k years	111m years	917m years	3bn years
13	3 years	705k years	5bn years	56bn years	275bn years
14	28 years	18m years	300bn years	3tn years	19tn years
15	284 years	477m years	15tn years	218tn years	1qd years
16	2k years	12bn years	812tn years	13qd years	94qd years
17	28k years	322bn years	42qd years	840qd years	6qn years
18	284k years	8tn years	2qn years	52qn years	463qn years