The University of Idaho Argonaut

It’s October, which means it’s time to counter phishing and viruses at the annual Computer Security Awareness Symposium hosted by ITS as a part of National Cyber Security Awareness Month.
ITS will present a series of lectures and discussions regarding computer security and how to stay safe Thursday in the Clearwater Room of the Idaho Commons.

The symposium falls on the same day as a national Webinar, or online seminar, hosted by the Department of Homeland Security. Symposium participants will be able to listen to a presentation by the department on how to avoid getting caught up in phishing schemes, said Mitch Parks, a Desktop Security Analyst with the ITS department.

Phishing is a form of fraud where someone poses as a trustworthy person or group, such as a bank, and attempts to get information from a second party.
The Webinar features the same PowerPoint presentation that’s being given by the actual presenter, as well as a live audio feed from where the presentation is taking place, allowing anyone across the country with access to the Webinar to get the same experience as someone who was attending the lecture in person.

In addition to the Webinar, there will be discussions related to properly maintaining a PC, general desktop security and software updates.
There will also be a workshop that deals with staying safe while using social networking sites. In that workshop, Darren Kearney of ITS will discuss various ways to keep a password safe and to protect one’s identity while using sites like Facebook and MySpace, said Joyce Davidson, Customer Support Manager for ITS.
Four years ago, phishing became a problem on the University of Idaho campus, so the ITS department hosted a computer security symposium.
ITS believes phishing is still a serious issue on campus, but they don’t hear many complaints from it’s victims, said Parks.
“Facebook had a vulnerability in how it handles your birthday, so anyone could figure out your identity and use that against you,” Parks said.
Facebook did resolve that issue, but there are still plenty of ways to get in trouble online.
“I encourage folks to come and protect their information,” Parks said. “(The lecture) talks about what sort of information you can put out there.”
There will also be a panel discussion regarding copyright issues on campus.
“We’re required to track more and more as to what students do on “P2P” applications,” Parks said. “We record how much bandwidth students use.”
“P2P” stands for peer-to-peer. It’s a type of program that allows people to connect their computers and transfer files. Examples of such programs include Kazaa and Limewire.

The ITS department tracks users who have had complaints filed against them. If the Recording Industry Association of America had tracked a user on the UI campus illegally downloading music, they can file a complaint with the ITS department, who in turn can observe what the user was doing. That information can then be used to prosecute the person who was illegally downloading media.
“P2P is a big issue,” Parks said. “We only get notices for a fraction of the activity.”

The event will also feature door prizes, which are usually technology-related, Richardson said.
“It was very successful and well attended, so we’ve done it ever since,” he said.
On average, 150 to 200 people attend the event each year.
“It’s our signature event,” said Parks.
Anyone who is interested in attending is invited, and it is free of charge. It starts at 8 a.m. in the Clearwater Room, and the last discussion concludes at 5 p.m.