GVSU Cyber Safety Newsletter - Fall 2022
GVSU Cyber Safety Newsletter - Fall 2022

Fall 2022 Cyber Safety Newsletter

Think B4U Click!
Luke DeMott Photo

Bits and Bytes from our CISO!

Welcome to the Fall 2022 Information Technology Security newsletter. This fall we have seen a significant increase in phishing messages sent to students, faculty, and staff. This is unfortunately consistent with increases in these malicious messages in all sectors of industry. I want to urge all of you to use extra caution when clicking on links and opening attachments.  We have also seen an increase in malicious actors making use of other platforms like text messaging and social media to conduct phishing style attacks. In addition, I want to encourage everyone to install updates regularly on all of their devices especially your mobile phone. Both Apple and Android have had significant vulnerabilities released in the last quarter. Finally, if you see something suspicious or have further security questions I know we would love to help. Please visit services.gvsu.edu and open a security ticket and we will be glad to assist. Our mission is to empower and protect our students, faculty, staff, and assets.
Watch a Video about the GVSU SOC!
Learn About GVSU's New Security Operations Center!
Morgan Hamlin Photo

Meet ITS Intern Morgan Hamlin!

My name is Morgan Hamlin, I work for Grand Valley as the Information Security Analyst Intern. My daily duties are centralized in the our security operations center (SOC). Here in the SOC, I gain experience in monitoring network segments with applications such as Nessus, Splunk, Windows Defender and other resources that help mitigate risk factors. In addition, I get live experience helping implement new security software such as Duo, Okta, and LastPass.

Currently we are working on creating a lab in the SOC to execute and practice pen testing tools. These tools help further develop my Blue Team (defender) abilities and prepare us for Red Team (attacker) exercises, both of which will be essential upon graduation.

This internship has given me a foundation in information security and has helped me grow my skills in an encouraging atmosphere. The team here at GVSU goes above and beyond to make sure interns are prepared for life after graduation. Going into my senior year, I am confident I will make a great transition from student to working professional.
LastPass Logo

What is LastPass?


LastPass is a secure password manager that stores all of your usernames and passwords in one safe place, called a vault.

Your vault is your central hub of all stored data. After you save a password to your Vault, LastPass always remembers it for you. When you need to log in to a website, LastPass enters your username and password for you!

A password manager does many other things, including:
  • Creating new passwords for you
  • Showing how strong your passwords are
  • Storing information such as PIN codes and membership IDs
  • Sharing passwords with others
  • Filling out addresses and credit card forms
As a password manager, LastPass will help you in your day-to-day work while improving the overall security of your online life.
Key benefits of using LastPass include:
  • Convenience – No more forgotten or mistyped password
  • Time saved – Instantly log in to websites
  • Stronger security – Long passwords that you don't have to remember
If you don't already have an account, you can get started by requesting one here: https://services.gvsu.edu/TDClient/60/Portal/Requests/ServiceDet?ID=1228
Digital Trout Silhoutte



Phish Pond

This quarter we are featuring some phishing emails seen on campus.
Our first example is from "Serice Help Desk"  Can you spot the tells that this is not a legitimate GVSU email?
Phishing Email Example 1
Tells: 
  • The domain portion of the email address after the "@"  "@cityoffie.org" is not "@gvsu.edu"
  • When you mouse over the "CLICK HERE" link, note that the URL is taking you to a non-GVSU address
  • The sense of urgency - meant to compell you to IMMEDIATELY click the link
Now that you have some clues from our first example can you spot the tells in this second example "Service Team?"
Phishing Example 2
Tells: 
  • The domain portion of the email address after the "@"  "@msn.com" is not "@gvsu.edu"
  • The link is taking you to a non-GVSU address
  • The sense of urgency - meant to compell you to take action or be "permanently deactivated"
When you identitfy a bad message the best course of action is to report the phishing message via Outlook or forward the message to phishing@gvsu.edu and then delete it.

Data Safety

During routine scans of documents on sharable sites like Google Drive, Microsoft SharePoint, and Microsoft Teams, we continue to find hundreds of documents that contain sensitive data accidentally shared to the web publicly.  When sensitive data is found, the security team corrects permissions to ensure that sensitive data remains private.

Please review your document shares and ensure you have not accidentally added extra permissions for sharing. We also strongly recommend any data you share be removed as soon as possible.  In some cases, we have noticed documents going back several years!
Helpful resources

Google Drive Share Permissions: 
https://support.google.com/drive/answer/2494822

SharePoint Share Permissions: 
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/sharepoint/modern-experience-sharing-permissions

Teams Share Permissions:
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/manage-team-settings-and-permissions-in-teams-ce053b04-1b8e-4796-baa8-90dc427b3acc

If you need help with data sharing permissions or any other security related topic, please email us at security@gvsu.edu and we are happy to help. 
For more information, check out the GVSU Cyber Safety website.
Cyber Security Team
Grand Valley State University
GVSU IT Security

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