Coronavirus: Work from home, information security and hacking

As many work from home, the risk of hacking and loss of important information increases. During this ongoing coronavirus situation (COVID-19), all staff and students need to know how to contribute to good information security.

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More threats – be vigilant

There is, lately, a steady increase in fraudulent e-mails and phishing attempts. These emails will trick you into, for instance

  • give away your username and passwords to hackers
  • paying money to the wrong people

The present coronavirus situation is being exploited by people trying to make a profit. As always:

According to UiO-CERT, it is likely that many among our staff will receive phishing e-mails during the coming weeks. These will be both traditional phishing e-mail as well as phishing tailored and made especially for the coronavirus situation.

Using your computer from home

When working from home, it is especially important to have good routines on how you work with your computer. Remember that USIT and your local IT staff do not have the same tools and systems to keep you safe as they have when you are at the office. You need to work with us to ensure good information security.

  • Ensure that your operating system and all your software if updated at all times. Remember to enable automatic updates.
  • Make sure antivirus software is enabled and updated.
  • Make sure that your UiO data is stored only where it is supposed to. Learn more in the storage guide.
  • Remember that your computer should only be used by those who are supposed to use it.
  • Don't install too many programs – it increases the complexity and the chance of failures.
  • Know your computer – this helps you notice when it behaves strange.
  • Remember that your IT support staff will be very busy trying to get everyone up and running with work from home. If you need support, please send an e-mail. do not try to phone in for IT support.
  • Contact UiO-CERT if you suspect an IT security incident has occured.
Published Mar. 16, 2020 3:11 PM - Last modified Mar. 16, 2020 3:15 PM