Information technology expert urges students to be 'Internet skeptics'

By Seili Lewis

April 8, 2008 | Students should be Internet skeptics, the USU Information Technology Network Security Team coordinator said Wednesday.

Bob Bayn answered journalism students' questions about protecting themselves from "phishing," the information-seeking behavior of online pranksters and crooks.

Bayn started off by illustrating how personal computers become a security issue and how to be safe online. He said the Web can be a useful tool for research, entertainment, hacking into personal files and stealing a person's identity. In just a matter of minutes from the time a computer is online, he said, a hacker could already be on the same computer getting information.

Technology is ever advancing to protect a computer from hacking, and it must be kept up to date, said Bayn. Keep the operating system up to date to block vulnerabilities software patched and up to date.

Delete or turn off programs and services you don't need, want or use, said Bayn.

File sharing, such as downloading songs, video clips and e-mail attachments, is the way for computers to contract a virus, he said. Set up a firewall to stop an incoming virus, worm or Trojan from attacking a computer, said Bayn.

"Hackers used to be egotistical," said Bayn. When they attacked a computer, they would cause a fuss, making their work obvious. He said now hackers don't want you to know that they have access to your files and personal information.

"You need to be what I like to call an Internet skeptic," said Bayn. "Be careful of unexpected attachments."

He said recently a USU computer had become compromised. He said a hacker set up a false credit union Web server and issued an e-mail to students claiming to be from the university's credit union. He said the hacker's letter informed students that their personal information had become compromised and they needed to go to the pseudo site and change their passwords and personal information.

With recent password-compromising activities, USU IT sent out a message to students saying they needed to change their passwords. Bayn said IT spent more time replying to the letters of students wondering whether the notice was real or a hoax. Bayn said he encouraged the IT staff to write a word or two of praise to those who were wary of a hoax.

Passwords are an important key to keeping your computer safe, he said. Strong passwords consist of numeral and alphabetical characters. Bayn said USU IT found 60 user names and passwords being used from China for high volume downloading. The university has an extension in China, he said, and correspondent students have access to the library's database. However, the files were not being downloaded by students.

There are a couple of strategies for creating passwords, said Bayn. The shocking nonsense strategy consists of creating an easy to remember shocking statement such as "I love to ski in fresh cow manure in the spring," said Bayn. Changing i's to ones and using the first letter of each word and using a two for "to" is a great way to create a strong password, said Bayn. The second strategy for creating a strong password, he said, is to use your favorite word, favorite number sequence, and favorite letter. Create the password by placing the number and favorite letter mixed into the favorite word you've chosen.

"Making a strong password won't do any good if it goes somewhere where people can get to it," said Bayn. Securing a computer with a password is one way to keep hackers out, he said, but being smart and using secure websites is another step that is easy to take.

"Look for the lock," said Bayn. Secure websites will have a little lock symbol in the bottom bar of your web browser, he said. The lock symbol tells you that the site is encrypted, which changes the information as it flows to and from the site into gibberish. Hackers won't be able to recognize and target personal and private information such as credit card numbers.

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