Information Security

Mission Statement

The Information Security Office is committed to lowering the risk profile of the University’s electronic information by implementing industry best practices to protect the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of student, faculty, and staff information. We uphold the University’s compliance obligations by developing information security policies, providing security awareness training, and overseeing the implementation of strategic information security initiatives.

Scam of the Week

It’s a Tax Trap!

In this week’s scam, you receive an unexpected phone call from someone who says they are an Internal Revenue Service (IRS) agent. They claim that you owe money to the IRS. The call seems real because the “agent” even provides what sounds like an actual government badge number. To make this situation even more alarming, they threaten you with fines or threaten to arrest you if you don't immediately pay the money that you owe.

However, this “tax agent” is actually a cybercriminal, and the debt that you supposedly owe isn’t real! They will try to pressure you into paying them, usually by wire transfer or a prepaid debit card. But if you send any money, it goes straight into the cybercriminal’s pockets!

Follow these tips to protect against tax scams:

The IRS will not call you and threaten to arrest you. If there is an issue with your taxes, they will usually contact you by mail.
If you do owe money to the IRS, they will never demand immediate payment using prepaid debit cards or wire transfers. Scammers often request payment using these methods because they are more difficult to trace.
Remember, cybercriminals try to scare you because you’re more likely to act impulsively if you’re afraid. Always stop and think!

Time It Takes a Hacker to Brute Force Your Password in 2025
Hardware: 12 x RTX 5090 | Password hash: bcrypt(10)

Number of Characters	Number Only	Lowercase Letters	Upper and Lower Case Letters	Numbers, Upper and Lowercase Letters	Numbers, Upper and Lowercase Letters, Symbols
4	Instantly	Instantly	Instantly	Instantly	Instantly
5	Instantly	Instantly	57 minutes	2 hours	4 hours
6	Instantly	46 minutes	2 days	6 Days	2 weeks
7	Instantly	20 hours	4 months	1 year	2 years
8	Instantly	3 weeks	15 years	62 years	164 years
9	2 hours	2 years	791 years	3k years	11k years
10	1 day	40 years	41k years	238k years	803k years
11	1 week	1k years	2m years	14m years	56m years
12	3 months	27k years	111m years	917m years	3bn years
13	3 years	705k years	5bn years	56bn years	275bn years
14	28 years	18m years	300bn years	3tn years	19tn years
15	284 years	477m years	15tn years	218tn years	1qd years
16	2k years	12bn years	812tn years	13qd years	94qd years
17	28k years	322bn years	42qd years	840qd years	6qn years
18	284k years	8tn years	2qn years	52qn years	463qn years