Contact: Zack Plair

STARKVILLE, Miss.—With cyber attacks becoming more prevalent and sophisticated, Mississippi State again is helping students, faculty and staff better protect their sensitive information from hackers.

Sponsored by the university’s Information Technology Services, the eighth annual Cyber Security Awareness Week begins Monday [Oct. 26] and continues through Friday [the 30th]. Featuring a series of educational programs covering cyber security’s many facets, the event coincides with national Cyber Security Awareness Month.

Also, as long as supplies last, ITS personnel will be giving away Cyber Security Awareness Week bags and T-shirts.

Mike Rackley, MSU’s chief information officer, said the programs will enable participants to learn the latest tricks and techniques hackers use to steal sensitive information, as well as the best practices to prevent becoming a victim.

“Such knowledge is important not only in protecting the information assets of the university but also in protecting one’s personal information from compromise or theft,” he added.

The week’s major events include:

—Tuesday [the 27th], 2-3 p.m., MSU-Meridian campus, Riley Center Room 3-C. With a topic titled “Stop Spam @ MSU,” deputy CIO and user services director Steve Parrot’s remarks will focus specifically on email safety.

—Wednesday [the 28th], 2-3 p.m., Starkville campus, Colvard Student Union’s third-floor Fowlkes Auditorium. Tom Ritter, MSU information security officer, will lead a training event titled “Securing the Human.”

—Thursday [the 29th], 2-2:30 p.m., Starkville campus, Bost Extension Center theater. A panel moderated by Dave Dampier, director of MSU’s Distributed Analytics and Security Institute, examines proactive strategies in cyber security.

—Friday [the 30th], 10-11 a.m., also in Colvard Union’s Fowlkes Auditorium. Chad Adams, U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Region VI cyber security adviser, will discuss overall cyber security awareness.

Ritter said phishing ranks among MSU’s most pervasive threats, with hackers managing this fall to successfully compromise a record number of staff accounts.

As the veteran technology services specialist explained, phishers often send an email urging an immediate response and linking to a bogus website that asks the user’s net identification and password. Once that information is obtained, the culprits distribute as much spam as possible from the purloined address before ITS personnel can shut down the account.

Because some phishing emails may appear totally legitimate at first glance, Ritter said his office constantly must remind campus account holders to pay very close attention to the provided uniform resource locator—or URL—as well as to any unusual grammar issues, since many phishers are operating from overseas.

Most importantly, MSU never makes online requests for an employee or student’s net password, he emphasized.

“This is a continual, regular problem, and it’s a challenge to get people to realize how pervasive it is,” Ritter said.

“Every day, we’re under attack,” he said, adding, “The big thing is user awareness.”

For more on MSU Cyber Security Awareness Week events, visit www.infosecurity.msstate.edu.

MSU is Mississippi’s leading university, available online at www.msstate.edu.