We would like to share a few tech tips to consider before the university closes for the holidays.
First, keep in mind that leaving your computer on and unattended for a prolonged period can create an opportunity for threat actors to access it. It’s also not great for the environment. Please keep yourself and the Carleton community safe by shutting your university-provided computer down by end-of-day on December 22, 2023.
Next, leaving an out-of-office auto-reply email on for external senders can tell threat actors that you are away from work and therefore a potential target for cyber-attacks. Where possible, consider turning on your out-of-office for internal senders only.
Finally, the holiday season is prime time for threat actors looking to make a quick profit from unsuspecting targets. Be wary of electronic requests for gift cards or monetary donations and if you receive suspicious emails click the Report Phishing button in Outlook to report it to our security experts.
Similarly, if you receive one ore more prompts to authenticate in Azure Multi-Factor Authentication that you are not responsible for, remember to click the “No, it’s not me” button in the Microsoft Authenticator app.
We hope you have a safe and restful break. Happy holidays from ITS!