URGENT ACTION NEEDED: IT and cybersecurity

04 Apr 2020

A message from Malcolm Whitehouse, Chief Information Officer

With universities moving to remote teaching and working, there is now an increased risk that each of us may become subject to cyber-attacks.

I am writing to you because there are some simple but important actions that you need to take now to keep your personal data, and University systems, safe and secure.

These are:

1. Beware of email/phishing scams. DO NOT click on any messages or links from unknown or unexpected sources and take our 15 minute email phishing course. Report suspicious emails to phishing@manchester.ac.uk.

2. Install anti-virus software on all your computers. University managed desktop and laptop computers come with McAfee Endpoint security already installed. However, anyone using a device other than a University managed computer should install an anti-virus application immediately.

3. Keep your software up to date.

4. Secure your computer by setting a password that needs to be entered every time you log-in to your device. Strong passwords are a non-obvious combination of least 10 letters, numbers and symbols. Further guidance on setting a strong password is available on the IT services website.

If you think you have a virus on your computer, please unplug your network connection and call the IT Support Centre as soon as possible on +44 (0)161 306 5544.

All of our IT information, including around cybersecurity is on our website.

Thank you for your assistance.