[IS&T Security-FYI] SFYI Newsletter, January 27, 2014

[Monique Yeaton]

In this issue:

1. Data Privacy Day and Month
2. EVENT: Big Data Talk @ CSAIL
3. Website Safety and Reputation


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1. Data Privacy Day and Month
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January 28th is Data Privacy Day, which celebrates the effort to protect the privacy of citizens. It also kicks off Data Privacy Month, sponsored by EDUCAUSE<http://www.educause.edu/focus-areas-and-initiatives/policy-and-security/educause-policy/community-engagement/data-privacy-month>. To get involved and learn how you or your business area can take steps to safeguard privacy online, check out some of the free available resources.

Learn more about Data Privacy Day<http://kb.mit.edu/confluence/x/xpgBCQ>.


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2. EVENT: Big Data Talk @ CSAIL
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MIT CSAIL in the Stata Building (Building 32) hosts regular talks on the topic of big data. Talks feature distinguished individuals from academia, industry and government, including pre-eminent people from all the subfields of computer science that have something to say about data, data processing and analytics, as well as people from organizations that are consumers of big data from both industry and government.

The next talk is “NSA Surveillance and What to Do About It.” The speaker is Bruce Schneier, an internationally known security technologist, author of 12 books and blogger (Schneier on Security<https://www.schneier.com/>).

Date & Time: Thursday, February 6, 2014, 5:00pm to 6:00pm
Location: 32-123

Learn more<http://bigdata.csail.mit.edu/node/145>.


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3. Website Safety and Reputation
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If you have children, you may have concerns about the places they visit on the Internet. While it is one thing to keep track of your child in the physical world, it’s much more difficult to know where he/she is going online. Setting up your home computer with limited access to sites may be one way to limit risks.

Another is to educate your child on the risks of the Internet and help the child know which sites he or she will want to stay away from. Know whether a site is risky, not just in terms of content such as scams, but also when it comes to the possibility of contracting malware such as spyware or spam.

If you use Chrome or Firefox, you can install an extension called Webutation that scores websites, based on a safety rating. The plug-in shows the score when you visit sites and it can block fraudulent e-commerce shops or adult sites. For other browsers (IE, Safari, e.g.), there is a bookmarklet. Webutation collects feedback from consumers to determine a site’s score, and collected information is updated regularly.

If you don’t want to install the software, but still want to know the safety reputation of a particular website, visit the Webutation page to look them up. Learn more about Webutation here<http://www.webutations.net/>. This software is not distributed, vetted or supported by Information Systems & Technology.

Other resources for parents and young students regarding online safety:

Connectsafely.org<http://www.connectsafely.org/>
Wiredsafety.org<https://www.wiredsafety.org/>
OnGuardOnline.gov<http://www.onguardonline.gov/>


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"Distrust and caution are the parents of security" - Benjamin Franklin



Monique Buchanan
IT Security Communications Consultant
Information Systems & Technology (IS&T)
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
http://ist.mit.edu/secure
tel: 617.253.2715



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