Faculty, staff, and students share the responsibility of protecting the school's computing resources. This encompasses the security and protection of any hardware, software, Internet, and email resource. In this section, IT will provide up-to-date information and best practices on how to protect computing resources that you utilize at work or study.
If you have any questions, please contact IT at pchelp@pacific.edu.
Basic understanding of information security that you need to keep your computer, and the school network safe from viruses and related computer problems. If we all use common sense when using school resources, computer slowdowns and security breaches can be prevented.
Watch out for "phishy" emails. The most common form of phishing is emails pretending to be from a legitimate retailer, bank, organization, or government agency.
Any email message from a friend or family member claiming to be urgent news that you should distribute around the world is almost definitely a hoax. However, even if it is legitimate, you should not use school resources to forward spam messages on to your friends and family.
Antivirus scanning is only effective if it is turned on. If virus definition is out of date, please contact Information Technology.
Even if software is free, it is not always free for use on School Resources machines. Downloading software from the Internet is a primary source of viruses, spyware and Trojans, and even legitimate software may not be compatible with other software on your computer and could cause conflicts.
Instant messaging can be a great communication tool, but it can also be a way to transfer viruses and other malware or initiate phishing.
At any given moment, your desk may have memos or documents that contain sensitive or confidential information or you might have classified information displayed on your computer monitor.