October is Cybersecurity Awareness Month, and to celebrate, we will be launching our new-and-improved Security Awareness Training. This year, we have contracted with a new vendor to provide enhanced features, and more engaging content. Our goal is to provide 60 minutes of information security training throughout the year. We plan to break this up into fall and spring modules, each with approximately 30 minutes of entertaining and easily understood video. All employees will be required to complete both modules. Doing so ensures that you understand the latest online threats that face our campus, and it helps reduce the cost of the College’s cybersecurity insurance. You should receive an email on Wednesday, October 19 with a link to begin your training. We are asking that you complete your training by Wednesday, November 9.
In addition to this fortified training regimen, we will also be running phishing simulations for the first time. A phishing simulation is where we generate harmless emails that have all the hallmarks of a real phishing attempt. You should expect to receive one of these messages in the coming days. We encourage you to be suspicious of anything that seems out of the ordinary, but if you do mistakenly click it, you will be directed to a page with additional information. Technology Services will also be notified of a successful phishing attempt. The goal of this effort is to provide insight into the effectiveness of our security awareness program. It’s also an opportunity for you to safely learn to recognize the signs of a phishing email.
Please feel free to reach out to us (helpline@gustavus.edu) if you have any questions or concerns about the revamped Security Awareness Training. Until then, we appreciate your continued support and vigilance!