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

This Chart Doesn't Check Out

Imagine opening an email that appears to be from your patient portal, telling you your test results are ready. You select the button in the email and land on a sign-in page that looks just like the real one, so you enter your email address and password. Then a pop-up window appears, stating that an "AI-powered review" found problems with your blood work. To see more, the page says you must complete a quick verification step.

Unfortunately, this email is actually a phishing scam! By signing in, you handed your login details straight to cybercriminals. The "verification" step might ask you to press a key combination, then paste and run a command. If you do, you could install malware on your device as well!

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

Open your patient portal through the official app or your healthcare provider's website. Don't select a button in an email about test results.
Never press key combinations, paste commands, or download files because a website tells you to. Real patient portals don't work that way.
Whichever health service you use, and wherever you live, confirm surprising results by contacting your provider directly through a phone number you know is real.

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