Home  /  Security  /  Security Awareness Training

Each month, ITS provides a Security Awareness training session for new hires.   During this session, the following topics, policies, supported software programs, and instructions to help secure your Centre data are discussed.

Policies

The following policies will provide you with a greater insight to how Centre operates and what systems are in place to keep our campus environment secure. 

• General Security Policy 

• Information Security Policy 

• Security Awareness Training Policy 

• Data Governance Policy

• Record Retention & Destruction Policy

• Backup Policy

Curious on other campus technology policies?  Check out a listing of Centre’s ITS Policies located on CentreNet.
Note: You must be logged into CentreNet before you can view the policies on this page.

Spamfilter: Defender 365

Defender 365 is Centre's spam filter that allows you to approve specific senders and release email messages that were blocked by the network.  These settings do not overwrite the overall security and malware checks conducted by Defender 365 but supplement the mail delivery process.

• Login to Spamfilter

• Managing quarantine emails

• Managing spam emails

Changing passwords

At Centre, you will be required to change your password every 180 days.  You will not be allowed to use a previous password (within the last year) and your new password will require a combination of special characters, letters and numbers.  Your Centre College password must only be used for Centre College.  Using this password elsewhere puts our system at risk if the password is compromised on another system.  Access to systems and applications is primarily done through the QuickLaunch Single Sign On (SSO) system.  

ITS also applies Multifactor Authentication (MFA) for specific applications and roles.  Users can validate their access using either security questions, a code set to a secondary email or via a text message

Click here for more information about managing your Centre password.

Lockbox

Centre provides a secure email and file dropping service called Lockbox.  This will allow you to:

1. Send confidential or sensitive information via encrypted email and

2. Send and receive secure files to individuals outside of the college

To access Lockbox:

1. Log into CentreNet

2. From the LaunchPad < click the Lockbox icon

View the Lockbox page for instructions on how to send secure emails and files.

Information Assurance (IA) Training

Due to the continued threats we see from Phishing and cyber attacks, Centre ITS will increase both our simulated phishing campaigns and our Information Assurance Training.

All employees will get a simulated phishing email once every 3 months.  Please use the “Report Phish” icon in Outlook to get suspicious emails into the system for review.  View instructions on how to report a phishing message.

The college will go to semi-annual IA training which means you will see an invite for training in the Fall and Spring terms.

Protecting your Data

It is important to protect your Centre College data.  You may have data that contains Personable Identifiable Information (PII).  This type of data should never be stored in your email, cloud storage, on your desktop, Qualtrics, etc.  Storing PII in email increases the risk of unauthorized access and data breaches resulting from devices being compromised or inadvertently sharing or sending emails.   

View the Protecting your data page for more information, as well as tools and resources to protect your data.

Backing up your Data

As a Centre College faculty, staff or student, it is important for you to back-up your data. We also recommend that your data be stored on Centre's approved cloud storage location and not directly on your computer.

Centre College's ITS Backup Policy states:

"It does not cover data held by individuals, on local servers managed by departments or individual PCs in faculty or staff offices, or data stored on removable devices owned by departments".  

This means that ITS does not backup your desktop, laptop, and/or tablets. It is the responsibility of the faculty, staff, and students to back up their systems.  ITS encourages people to save their documents to the Centre College approved cloud storage, which is Office 365 and OneDrive.

View the Backing up your data page for more information.

Securing your Windows Device with BitLocker

BitLocker is a Windows security feature that encrypts everything on your Windows device.  This encryption protects your data in case of data theft, or if your device is ever lost, stolen or inactive. 

Installing BitLocker on your device keeps your data protected. When your device is no longer active, BitLocker renders the data inaccessible.  During the startup process on your device, BitLocker will require a personal identification number (PIN).  This PIN is only known to you but ITS has a method to recover it if you forget or it’s lost.

Learn more about BitLocker and installing it on your computer

Reporting

As a Centre College employee, if you experience any of the following: a threat to a person, potential malware on your system, data exposure, lost an electronic device, or phishing message, follow these instructions on reporting this to the correct department.

Report a Threat to a Person (“cyberstalking” or “cyberbullying”)
If you or someone else has received a threat to your safety.

• Open a case with the Department of Public Safety (DPS)

• Call the Department of Public Safety at 859-236-3457

• You may also notify the ITS Help Desk via email or call 859-238-5575.

Details to Include: Source of the threat (email, phone call) and day/time received. Sender email or phone number if known.

Report a potential malware on your system
If you are aware of a potential malware infection on a Centre system.

• Submit a ticket or call 859-238-5575

Details to Include in your Help Desk ticket: System Name, Location, Symptom or Issue which caused you to suspect a malware infection.

Data Exposure
If you see sensitive Centre data on an unsecured server, common use workstation or posted publicly, or you believe you may have used an unsecure system to collect or transmit sensitive Centre data.

• Submit a ticket or call 859-238-5575

Details to Include in your Help Desk ticket: System Name, Location, type of data and where you saw it one line.

Report a Lost Electronic Device

• Submit a ticket or call 859-238-5575

• Report the loss to DPS by calling 859-236-4357

Details to Include in your Help Desk ticket: System Name and location/time last seen.
If you are an employee and the device is Centre-managed, notify your manager.

Report a Lost ID card

• Temporarily lock your ID card on a mobile device 

• Report the loss to Student Life (business hours) 859-238-5473 or DPS (after hours) by calling 859-236-4357

Virtual Private Network (VPN)

A Virtual Private Network (VPN) provides an encrypted tunnel for you to connect your computer to the campus network while you are at home, traveling or abroad.  VPN is only need to connect to services that are not available off-campus due to security concerns.  VPN requires pre-authorization from ITS.  If this is something you need, please put in a helpdesk ticket by emailing helpdesk.centre.edu.

Checkout additional information about VPN at Centre.