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 Vote You’ll Regret

Imagine you open WhatsApp, a popular messaging app, and see a message from someone you know. They send you a link and ask you to vote in an online contest—for example, for their niece in a dance recital or their pet in a costume contest. The message feels casual, but a little urgent, like something a friend would send in a rush. Since the message comes from someone you trust, you don’t feel worried about clicking the link.

But think twice before clicking. This is actually a scam to take over your WhatsApp account! Selecting the "vote" link opens a page that appears to be part of WhatsApp, asking you to verify or connect. This may seem like a harmless step, but if you do so, cybercriminals will connect to your account. Then, they can access your messages and contacts to learn your personal information. They can even forward the same scam to everyone in your contacts!

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

Be cautious of unexpected messages containing links, even if they appear to come from a real friend or family member.
Never link a new device to your account unless you're the one who initiated the connection. If you receive a message asking you to connect a new device, that’s a red flag for a scam.
Regularly check the devices linked to your WhatsApp account in your WhatsApp settings. If there are any devices you don’t recognize, unlink them.

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