Social media is the latest tool the Union University information technology department has enlisted to help protect the safety and security of Union students and faculty. The IT department launched their new twitter account, UU InfoSec, earlier this year.
The account is run by Leland Lyerla, edTech support and IT security analyst, and aims to help students and faculty alike protect their private information online. Jim Avery, associate president for information technology, said that the department’s focus is keeping the campus as safe as possible, and the Twitter account is a platform to raise awareness and educate the Union community on cyber security.
“Data security and personal identification protection is a key piece of what we do here in information technology,” Avery said. “In recent years it’s been a lot more dramatic with the rise of social media and hackers.
The account tweets helpful hints for keeping private information secure as well as links to articles pertaining to security issues at other major organizations. Lyerla said it is only the start of a more robust cyber-security focus for the department.
“It’s something that hasn’t been given much attention in the past,” Lyerla said. “We’ve started with the Twitter account but we’re moving towards a digital disciplines program based on principles of protecting data, securing devices and defending your identity.”
Lyerla and Avery both said that the easiest way for Union students to prevent security issues is just to manage their passwords better online. This includes not using the same password for multiple accounts, as well as creating strong passwords with a variety of letters, both capitalized and lower-case, as well as numbers and punctuation marks.
For more information, you can follow UU Infosec on Twitter: @KeepingUUSecure.
