Hack the Box a blast!! – 10/16/18
Tuesday we had our first Hack the Box event. It was a blast!! The teams were neck and neck for most of the challenge. In the end they finished in under 20 minutes and within a minute of each other. Both teams walked away with swag, contest codes and smiles. It was a nice way to take a break in the day. Oct 25 is your last chance to register for this fun event. Get together your team of four and register today!!
The Cyber Security Challenge contest entry code for this week is s3lwn5tr.
The Cyber Security Challenge is a Go!! – 10/01/18
It’s October!! The Cyber Security Challenge begins today!! For the next 30 days, Mount Royal employees will be attending events, completing training, visiting websites and reading cyber security resources to find the contest entry codes. Each code is one entry into a draw for a $250 Best Buy gift certificate courtesy of Cisco Systems Limited. One lucky person will take home the gift certificate while one hard working team will be awarded the Golden Superhero Award!
You can earn contest entry codes by:
- Reading the IT Security Newsletter every week
- Attending the Cyber Safety Summit (one code for each talk)
- Attending the screening of the Cyberwar Threat
- Participating in Hack the Box
- Reading the Cyber Security Survival Guide
- Visiting the General Security Tips page on mru.ca/itsecurity
- Completing online Security Awareness Training (checkout the updated content)
- Attending a Security Awareness Workshop (we have 30 min mini-workshops too)
To make things even more fun, the Cyber Security Challenge Leaderboard will be updated by 10:00 am each day with the previous days totals. Check the leaderboard daily to see how your team is doing. Not sure which is your team? Check out the Team List.
The contest closes at 4:00 pm on Oct 30. The draw for the gift certificate will be on Oct 31 at 11:00 am. The gift certificate winner and the winning team will be contacted by phone and will have their pictures posted on the IT Security Website.
May the most competitive team win!!
Hack the Box – an escape room type activity 09-27-18
Next week is the first week of Cyber Security Awareness month!! Do you have your Hack the Box team registered? We need your help to find Hacker Dude. He has been trying to access the Mount Royal University network. IT services had tracked his location, but he fled leaving behind a crime scene ripe with clues. See if your team can solves the puzzles, decipher the clues and break into the box that contains Hacker Dude’s location. For your trouble, you will be rewarded with cool swag and contest entry codes for the the Cyber Security Challenge draw for a $250 Best Buy gift certificate. Unfortunately, students only get the swag.
Register your team here.
CSAM is coming…are you prepared? – 09/19/18
October is just over one week away and with it Cyber Security Awareness Month and the chance to win a $250 Best Buy gift certificate. Our wonderful friends at Cisco have once again donated a lovely prize for the Cyber Security Challenge and are sponsoring the refreshments for the Cyber Safety Summit. This year’s summit has 5 speakers with our keynote being the best selling author of Technocreep: The Surrender of Privacy and the Capitalization of Intimacy, Thomas P. Keenan. Registration is free.
This year we have added a new escape room type activity called Hack the Box , sponsored by WBM Systems. Put together a team of 4 and see if you can crack the clues and break into the box to find the location of Hacker Dude . To make it even more fun, you can compete against another team. There are limited time slots so register early.
Are you thinking about a career in cyber security? Attend the How to Land a Career in Cyber Security talk. Cyber security professionals are in high demand. Find out what it takes to get started in this lucrative career.
To round out the activities, we have a screening of NOVA’s Cyberwar Threat on the Vizwall in the Ideas Lounge. This documentary takes a fascinating, in depth look at the world of international cyber crime and the players involved.
Please note that although all staff, students and faculty are welcome to participate in all CSAM activities, the Cyber Security Challenge is only open to staff and faculty.
The Cyber Safety Summit is back!! – 08/31/18
Mark Oct 2, 2018 on your calendar. The Cyber Safety Summit is returning!! This year is bigger and better. Kris Hans of Market Grade is returning and we have Sgt. Mike Lalande of CPS, Jason Maynard of Cisco Systems Inc., Ilija Stankovski of WBM Office Systems and Technocreep author Thomas P. Keenan from the U of C joining us. Check out the summit website for information on the speakers, the day’s schedule and to register. Registration is free!
If you have time hang out after the summit to visit with the speakers and pick up a copy of Mr. Keenan’s book Technocreep: The Surrender of Privacy and the Capitalization of Intimacy. Thomas will be offering signed copies for $20.
Once again Cisco Systems Inc will be providing us with light refreshments. Hope to see you there!!
Cyber Safety Summit 2018 – 04/23/18
The Cyber Safety Summit 2018 will be held on October 2, 2018 at the Lincoln Park room in the Main Building of Mount Royal University’s campus. The summit will include experts speaking on home security, social engineering, fraud protection and how to recover from a cyber attack. In addition we are adding a new topic this year, protecting your privacy. Registration is free.
Spend the whole day with us or just come by for your favourite session. Either way you have the opportunity to hear from the experts themselves how to keep your family and home cyber safe. Come with your questions and concerns, leave armed with the knowledge you need to keep hackers at bay.
Can’t attend the summit? We will be live streaming all sessions. Visit the website to review last year’s program and to sign up for Summit updates.
Mark your calendars now!! See you on October 2, 2018!!
Welcome to the new IT Security Newsletter – 03/12/18
The old IT Security Blog has morphed into the new IT Security Newsletter. This new format will allow us to focus on creating timely articles more relevant to the Mount Royal community. Every Friday an email with a list of links to the latest articles will appear in your inbox, giving you easy access to the newsletter. Watch for the weekly This week in IT security news feature as well as alerts on the latest cyber threats to our community.
The new newsletter format will also allow you to search all articles, making it easier to find what you are looking for. Not exactly sure what you need? You can browse through the categories. No more opening newsletter after newsletter in the archives trying to locate an old article that you want to share.
If you have subscribed to both the blog and the newsletter, you will now only receive one email a week instead of two. As before if you have any suggestions, concerns or comments about the newsletter, feel free to contact me at bpasteris@mtroyal.ca . We hope you like the new newsletter.
McAfee Logo Has Changed – 05/02/17
Just a heads up for staff and faculty. If you take a look at your task bar in Windows and see a new icon, don’t worry it’s just McAfee’s updated logo. McAfee is the antivirus software that is loaded onto all Mount Royal workstations. Don’t have the new logo yet? Don’t worry the logo is updated in stages, it will eventually be your turn. If you have any questions or concerns, contact the ITS Service Desk.
Holiday Greetings from ITS – 12/22/16
Deadline for Receiving 8GB USB Key Extended – 11/01/16
Due to overwhelming demand, we have decided to extend the free 8GB USB offer. Until the end of December or when we run out of USB keys, whichever comes first, students can continue to subscribe to the IT Security website and receive a free 8GB USB key. Student, go tell your friends. Faculty, go tell your students. Tell them to visit mru.ca/itsecurity and click the Subscribe to this Site button. They will receive their coupon code within 24 hours that can be redeemed at the IT Service Desk at E251 for the cool 8GB USB key shown above. Super handy for storing assignments!!