What a year! We’ve continued to adapt to new working environments, a return to campus, new technologies, and novel cyberthreats. The Office Information Security launched a monthly newsletter, ran university-wide competitions, and engaged the WashU community with a slate of events and communications for Cybersecurity Awareness Month. Once again, we are proud to be among CISA’s Cybersecurity Champions in 2021.
The need for cybersecurity communications has only become more urgent in the past year. Our office is committed to protecting our institution from security threats, and you, the WashU community, are a big part of how we do that. Our readership and competition participation have grown this year. We are proud to serve such an informed and interested community.
Below, please find a recap of some of our 2021 content. Thank you for reading our newsletter. We look forward to continuing this important conversation with you.
Feature Articles
We ran original feature articles on a variety of topics, including phishing and impersonation scams, the hacker mindset, misinformation, and more.
- He Held Her Hostage with His Words | Office of Information Security | Washington University in St. Louis
- Cybercrime and Human Intelligence | Office of Information Security | Washington University in St. Louis
- The Office of Information Security (OIS) is Your Ally in the Cybercrime Arms Race | Office of Information Security | Washington University in St. Louis
- Get Inside the Hacker Mindset to Create Stronger Passwords | Office of Information Security | Washington University in St. Louis
- Protect Yourself from Misinformation | Office of Information Security | Washington University in St. Louis
- How to use your source-checking skills to stay safe from phishing | Office of Information Security | Washington University in St. Louis
We discussed security tools and services available to the WashU community.
- Save, Secure, and Share with Box and OneDrive | Office of Information Security | Washington University in St. Louis
- Easy Security with WUSTL ONE and WashU’s DocuSign | Office of Information Security | Washington University in St. Louis
- October is Cybersecurity Awareness Month | Office of Information Security | Washington University in St. Louis
And we offered tips for protecting yourself while at work, while traveling, shopping, enjoying the holidays, and anytime.
- Have a Happy (and Secure) Thanksgiving | Office of Information Security | Washington University in St. Louis
- Online Holiday Shopping Scams | Office of Information Security | Washington University in St. Louis
- Don’t Let Digital Highwaymen Spoil Your Summer Adventures | Office of Information Security | Washington University in St. Louis
- Keep Your Information Secure This Tax Season | Office of Information Security | Washington University in St. Louis
- Know the Rules of the Road | Office of Information Security | Washington University in St. Louis
- Phishing 101 | Office of Information Security | Washington University in St. Louis
- Updated Device Security Guidance and Best Practices | Office of Information Security | Washington University in St. Louis
- Workday Security | Office of Information Security | Washington University in St. Louis
Letters from the CISO
We ran regular contributions with security wisdom from our CISO.
- Letter from the CISO – Everyone is in InfoSec | Office of Information Security | Washington University in St. Louis
- Keeping Information Security Simple – Multi-Factor Authentication
- Keeping Information Security Simple – Be Skeptical and a Little Paranoid | Office of Information Security | Washington University in St. Louis
- Keeping Information Security Simple – Physical Security Comes First | Office of Information Security | Washington University in St. Louis
- Keeping Information Security Simple – Backup, Backup, Backup | Office of Information Security | Washington University in St. Louis
- Keeping Information Security Simple – There’s no better feeling than recovering your lost device! | Office of Information Security | Washington University in St. Louis
Scam of the Month
Each month, we dissected at least one real-world scam so that the WashU community can identify common threats.
- Scam of the Month—June 2021 | Office of Information Security | Washington University in St. Louis
- Scam of the Month—July 2021 | Office of Information Security | Washington University in St. Louis
- Scam of the Month—August 2021 | Office of Information Security | Washington University in St. Louis
- Scam of the Month—September 2021 | Office of Information Security | Washington University in St. Louis
- Scam of the Month: DocuSign Phishing | Office of Information Security | Washington University in St. Louis
- Scam of the Month: Direct Deposit Phishing Scam Impersonating University Leadership | Office of Information Security | Washington University in St. Louis
- Bonus Scam of the Month: Emotet Attachment Scam | Office of Information Security | Washington University in St. Louis
Meet the Team
We introduced many members of the information security team, highlighting the important work they do for the Office of Information Security in service of our shared university mission.
- Meet Your Infosec Team: Chief Information Security Officer, Chris Shull | Office of Information Security | Washington University in St. Louis
- Meet Your Infosec Team: Joe Susai, Chief Information Security Officer, Washington University School of Medicine | Office of Information Security | Washington University in St. Louis
- Meet Your InfoSec Team: Kevin Hardcastle, WashU Associate CISO | Office of Information Security | Washington University in St. Louis
- Meet Your InfoSec Team: Denise Woodward, Information Security Manager | Office of Information Security | Washington University in St. Louis
- Meet Your InfoSec Team: Betsy Ball, Information Security Architect | Office of Information Security | Washington University in St. Louis
- Meet Your InfoSec Team: Michael Mayer, Information Security Analyst | Office of Information Security | Washington University in St. Louis
Many thanks to our audience for doing your part to protect the WashU community from cybercrime. Have a happy, healthy, and secure holiday season!