Secure IT! Newsletter
The Newsletter of the Information Security Group | ISG@brown.edu
Archive Edition: September, 2005
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Don't Find Yourself a Victim of Laptop Theft!

by Connie Sadler, Director of IT Security, Computing and Information Services

Connie SadlerBrown is like many other campuses – open and trusting. Collaborative work is varied and research and study areas are in use 24 x 7. Individuals in the community sometimes prey on that openness and trust and wander our facilities looking for devices that can be quickly and easily exchanged for cash. There are thousands of laptops on campus and it’s important that users understand risks and how to protect hardware, software and data. Laptop risk includes all of the usual threats – viruses, worms, spyware, etc., but these computers are also easy to steal.

Most laptop thefts on campus today occur because they are left in unattended offices, labs or dorm rooms. Sometimes they are stolen during a lunch break or from offices and dorm rooms where the doors were closed but not locked. Therefore, the best way to prevent laptop theft is to make sure the systems are not left unattended where unauthorized personnel may have access. continued...

Cyber Security Awareness Month: October 2005

Brown joins with the National Cyber Security Alliance (NCSA), other educational, public and private institutions as well as home users, to observe Cyber Security Awareness month during October. Several learning opportunities have been planned, both online and in person.

Keep IT safe and secure, because, IT's not secUre without U

Our theme is "keep IT safe & secure", and throughout the month we'll provide information on how you can do just that. In addition, each week we will focus on a different key security concern, which are unfortunately all too familiar: identity theft, online safety, laptop security, copyright and filesharing, spyware, and phishing.

Visit our Cyber Security Awareness month site to read a complete calendar of events, which include special presentations, giveaways and a raffle. It also features links to videos, quizzes and games.

Enhancing data security
with FileMaker Server

by Scott Thacher, Department Computing Administrator, Dean of the College

File foldersA year ago I would have been hard pressed to recommend FileMaker as a solution for anything besides a small, single-user, desktop database.

With the big changes that the company has made to their desktop and server products (FileMaker Pro and FileMaker Server), this suite of products has become a legitimate option for the more robust solutions that some departments at Brown may be looking for.

FileMaker Server has some great features for securing your FileMaker databases. For those of you who are unfamiliar with the FileMaker Server product, it is essentially a passive hosting engine for FileMaker databases.

Its sole purpose is to host databases for sharing among FileMaker Pro clients – It can't open, read, or modify databases, it just shares them.

continued...

Check out the Computer Education schedule for security classes to learn more about
protecting yourself, your computer,
and the information stored on it
All are welcome to attend!