CCI Tech Tip Tuesdays

Interested in more info in how to stay secure at work?  Take a look at OCA's new phishing guide.  It includes a list of the top 10 phishing email subjects; examples of real phishing emails sent to  nycourts.gov  email addresses; and a refresher on the new reporting feature in Outlook we covered in a  previous tip . Check it out  here .

If you see an email in your  nycourts.gov  inbox that might be a phishing email, you can now report it directly through Outlook.  When you have an email message selected, you can click “Report message” in the top hand navigation.  Then select “Phishing”.    This will send a message directly to OCA to let them know of the phishing attempt.  We encourage you to also submit a  tech support ticket  to let our team know as well. For any phishing attempts you receive to your Gmail ( courtinnovation.org ;  neighborsinaction.org , etc.) please continue to submit a tech support ticket.

Courtesy of Gene Sorkin, Associate Director of Information Technology Support, here are some telltale signs to look for the next time an email that smells phishy hits your inbox.  Keep an eye out for misspellings, such as legitimate business names that are missing or off by just one or two letters. Additionally, an unexpected email from an address that you never communicated with before is a good early sign of a possible scam. Subject lines containing too-good-to- be true offers or threatening statements meant to elicit an emotional reaction are clues that someone’s trying to phish you. Watch out for mass email sends or unexpected emails to email aliases like the example below. Any messages addressed generically, especially ones regarding financial transactions are suspicious. Extreme caution should be exercised with any link appearing in an unexpected or unsolicited email. Hover over the hyperlink text to see where the URL would actually direct you if clicked. Scamm...

Multi-factor authentication is a better form of security that anyone on the court network will use when accessing your e-mail outside of the court network - sort of like when you sign on to online banking.  It can seem like a headache, but it's not as much of a headache as what you would experience if our network was compromised!  (Still not convinced?  Read this post to learn more about why security matters to our organization and all of us ). To make this more convenient, you can actually set-up a few ways to use it based on what is best for you - we recommend you choose a primary and secondary option.  Click here for full instructions on how to set it up. 1. An authenticator smartphone app that generates codes for you This is the recommended option - it works with your smart phone, and allows you to set-up a back-up number if you don't have your smart phone with you.  The app works when you have WiFi so is a perfect fit for international travellers ...

For many of us, we know that security is important but it is a lot of steps, a lot of things to remember, and two-factor authentication can feel like such a pain.   Michael Levan, the Center’s System Administrator, answers some frequently asked questions about security, and why it matters for you and for the whole organization and the clients we serve. Security doesn’t seem that important for me personally. I don’t really have anything important in my email or computer anyway. Once your computer is hacked, anything you do on your computer could be seen or collected by a malicious attacker. How many times have you used your computer to go on Amazon? Or Ebay? All of these logins you do daily have information about you: your last name, address, credit card number, bank card number, security questions, or even your social security number. Also , you are putting everyone in the organization potentially at risk – and their private information. The attacker receives crede...

E-mail security is always worth getting a refresher on!  Compromised e-mail accounts can affect all of us, sometimes even causing lost documents or lost work. OCA has a presentation explaining the type of attacks they see, and how to avoid them.   Please read this presentation from an OCA computer. Four key tips to remember: If you aren't expecting an e-mail from someone, do not open it. If you do open it, definitely think twice before clicking on a link or opening an attachment. Don't give into any pop-ups or advice asking you to install software.  No software should be installed without approval from the IT department. When in doubt, ask IT for advice!