safety - Technology Support Services

Documentation

Please read the information below on how to be safer on the Internet. If you have any questions please contact the Computing HelpDesk, 906-227-2468, HelpDesk@nmu.edu.

General Safety Tips
Phishing Attempts
Password Safety

General Safety Tips

• NMU will never ask for your password.
• If you ever have a question about the status of your NMU account, log into http://myuser.nmu.edu/user to view the account status.
• Typically NMU, your bank, your credit cards, Facebook, PayPal, eBay, the IRS, federal and state governments will not ask for any of your personal information via email. When in doubt log into a known good web address for the service to see if the same request is referenced there. for NMU that would be http://myuser.nmu.edu/user and http://mynmu.nmu.edu.
• If you receive an email message that claims to be distributing a Microsoft security update, it is a hoax that may contain malware or pointers to malicious websites. Microsoft does not distribute security updates via email.
• Lock your computer when you leave.
• Destroy or shred documents with personal information when you're finished with them.
• Don't visit or download from sites you do not trust.
• If you have any questions or problems please contact the Computing HelpDesk, 906-227-2468, HelpDesk@nmu.edu.

Phishing Attempts

Beware of phishy email appearing to be about your NMU account. A phishing attempt is an attempt via email to get personal information from you such as your User ID and password or even bank or credit card details. The email message may also contain a link to a website requesting the same information. Phishy email messages can appear to come from helpdesk@nmu.edu or similar email addresses and referencing upgrading your mailbox or account. These are not actually from helpdesk@nmu.edu or any NMU account but from accounts on the internet and spoofed to appear to come from NMU. Click here to find out more about identifying and deflecting phishing attempts. 
 

Password Safety

Having strong passwords is important for keeping your accounts and personal information secure. Here are some hints for creating a safe password.

• Use a longer password
• Change your password often
• Ensure that you can remember your password
• Don't use easily identifiable personal information like children's names or birthdays
• Some systems won't accept spaces, special characters, or only allow passwords of certian lengths, though the more complex the password, the safer your information will be
• Don't keep you password in a place where it can be found or seen
• Don't share your password with people, businesses, or even the HelpDesk
• Have different passwords for each account
• For more information on choosing passwords, visit http://www.us-cert.gov/cas/tips/ST04-002.html

NMU password requirements ensure that your password is safe and difficult to guess. The requirements are as follows:

• Must be 8 to 16 characters in length
• First character must be a letter of the alphabet (a-z)
• Must contain at least one numeric (0-9) character
• Must contain at least one of these special characters: ~!%^*_+-{}|[]\:?./
• Spaces are not allowed
• Passwords are case sensitive
• Passwords may not be reused for two years

Documentation

At the HelpDesk, and throughout campus, there has been an influx of phishing attempts on NMU accounts. In response to this we would like to get the word out to the NMU community about ways to tell if you are looking at a possible phishing attempt. Our friends over at James Madison University (jmu.edu) came up with a great rule of thumb when faced with a possible attempt to gather personal information. They suggest, “counting the periods.” What this means is that you will want to look at the link, count back two from the first slash after “http://” and note those two sections. What you are looking at is what’s called the domain of the site or e-mail address. 

We hope that you are able to take this information and use it beyond your time here at NMU to continue to keep your personal information safe. Remember that Northern Michigan University, your bank, your financial advisors, and any other person or organization that deals with personal information will typically NOT ask for your information via e-mail including but not limited to: your password or your unique identifier (NMUIN, Member Number, Social Security Number, etc.).  If you ever receive a message asking for personal information it is safe practice to contact the support group for that organization. It’s always better to be safe and ask.

Knowing Trusted Domains
Identifying Untrustworthy Domains
 

Knowing Trusted Domains

http://www.nmu.edu/ - Here we count back two periods from that first slash after "http://" and we see "nmu.edu" which is the standard domain for an NMU site. 

 

 

https://mynmu.nmu.edu/ - Again, if we count back two periods from the slash we see "nmu.edu."

 

http://educat.nmu.edu - This one doesn't have a slash, so now what? Count your two periods back from the end of the address as if there was a slash and note the doman, in this case, "nmu.edu."

 

myuser.nmu.edu - This one doesn't have an 'http' or a slash! Follow the same guideline as the last example and you'll see the "nmu.edu" domain. 

 

Identifying Untrustworthy Domains

We recently recieved a phishing attempt on campus from http://mailnmuedu.webs/com, which is NOT a trusted NMU site and should NOT be followed or clicked. 

 

• Counting the periods here shows us that this is not an nmu.edu site. 
• If a link just says "Click Here" or you can't see the URL or domain, just hover over without clicking the link and a link description will appear. You can count the periods here.
• If an email ends in anything other than @nmu.edu or @mes.nmu.edu, chances are it's NOT from a trusted Northern Michigan University account, though we do use a few third party systems in some departments
• If you aren't sure, feel free to ask a coworker or contact the HelpDesk.

 

We hope that you are able to take this information and use it beyond your time here at NMU to continue to keep your personal information safe. Remember that Northern Michigan University, your bank, your financial advisors, and any other person or organization that deals with personal information will typically NOT ask for your information via e-mail including but not limited to: your password or your unique identifier (NMUIN, Member Number, Social Security Number, etc.).  If you ever receive a message asking for personal information it is safe practice to contact the support group for that organization. It’s always better to be safe and ask.