Lately, our university employees have been receiving strange e-mails from university administration prompting to provide personal information.
First of all, we need to remember: employees of government agencies are prohibited from using foreign services in their official activities, except for creating public channels for disseminating information.
"We will soon update our information security policy, it will regulate technical issues of the password policy," says Vice-Rector for Digital Transformation Evgeny Kabiolsky. "Any messages prompting you to enter your login and password are suspicious in advance. If you have any doubts, I would recommend you to consult with the management, the head of the IT department, or me, I am always ready to help you solve the problem."
Fraudsters make great efforts to take over the profiles of conscientious citizens. To protect your account, you need a complex password, a security question to recover the password, and a second factor that allows you to reliably identify the user. But transmission via SMS channels remains weakly protected, it is better to use applications for generating codes. Fraudsters try to avoid those who use such applications.
Vice-Rector for Security Pavel Sonin spoke about the importance of following rules that will help you protect yourself.
"Often people turn to us for help, and we strive to provide this help with our best human qualities. But in the modern world, it is important to understand that such requests may have criminal intentions. It is important to critically evaluate the requests we receive," Pavel Sonin shares.
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It is important not to be afraid to share information, even if you are asked not to talk about it. Find someone in your circle who will look at the situation from an outsider's perspective.
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Since you have no real way to confirm a person's identity when communicating remotely, ask yourself: "Is this person really who they claim to be online?"
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Do not try to fulfil the request immediately! Take the trouble to double-check the information, received from the person, through other communication channels, primarily official ones.
Following these simple rules will help protect you from criminal intent.