Holiday IT Security

'Tis the season for IT breaches!' As the parties wind down and people leave for the holidays, everyone needs to be aware that the holiday season is when we have to be very vigilant of our computer systems, it is a high incident period for IT security breaches.

All employees are reminded to power off as many systems as possible. Each non-essential system that is turned off reduces the likelihood of a security incident for the GSFC environment. It also reduces our need for electricity.

Don't forget printers, copiers, computer peripherals, etc. Printers and other computer peripherals, even in "stand-by" mode, consume a fair amount of electricity and can be vulnerabilities

If a system needs to be left powered on, all idle users should be logged off or lock the screen with a password.