Information Security Bulletin
March, 2012
Raising awareness of information security related issues and concerns.
E-mail
E-mail and texting has become one of the primary ways we communicate in both our professional and personal lives. Quite
often, it can result in mistakes that can hurt you or EPCC. Here is some suggestions and food for thought.
Be careful with Auto-Complete. When you start typing an e-mail
address, the computer often tries to help, sometimes with disastrous results.
Always look twice to make sure you are sending the information to the right
person.
Reply versus Reply All. That snarky response may be amiably
received by the one you meant to send it to, but will it be taken the same way
by all the other recipients? Always look twice at who will receive the e-mail.
Think twice! A wise person once observed: “Draft today, send
tomorrow”. Never send an e-mail when you are emotionally charged. Take
a moment and calmly organize your thoughts. Delete all recipients while
drafting that angry e-mail so it doesn’t accidently get sent out.
Know the rules! EPCC neither sanctions
nor censors individual expression of opinion on
our e-mail services but there are certain limits
that need to be respected.
Phishing
Scammers, masquerading as a legitimate
organizations, send official-seeming e-mail
to get you to reveal sensitive data. If you get
an e-mail or pop-up asking for personal or
financial information, don’t reply. Don’t click
any links. If it is in your college account,
forward it to a member of the Information
Security Team.
If you are worried, contact the organization
mentioned using a phone number you know is
genuine, or open a new window and type the
company’s correct web address.
Using a regularly updated anti-virus and antispyware software, as well as a firewall and
keeping your software patched will also help.
All employees are urged to remember
while using their college e-mail account that
“All messages - including personal messages - are owned by EPCC, may be subject to open records
requests, and may be accessed in accordance with this procedure and state and federal law.”. Any
e-mail can easily be forwarded to others (on purpose or accidentally), posted on public forums and may
remain accessible forever. If you have something private to communicate, e-mail might not be the
best option.
College Procedure 2.05.01.34 Electronic Mail Services, Personal and Broadcast E-mail, and
E-mail Restrictions specifically states: “Creating a hostile working environment, or sending communications that are threatening,
malicious,defamatory, harassing or offensive is strictly forbidden.” Since elections are coming up, it is good to remember the same
procedure restricts the use of college e-mail “Urging the support or defeat of any political candidate or ballot measure”.
To learn more, we recommend:
• 12 Tips for better e-mail: http://preview.tinyurl.com/6dc6ac4
• Preventing Auto-Complete Disasters in Outlook: http://previw.tinyurl.com75lvgln
• College Procedure 2.05.01.34 Electronic Mail Services, Personal and Broadcast E-mail, and E-mail Restrictions http://
www.epcc.edu/InstitutionalEffectiveness/PoliciesandProcedures/2.05.01.34.pdf
• College Policy 3.05.07 Participation in Community and Political Affairs http://www.epcc.edu/InstitutionalEffectiveness/
PoliciesandProcedures/3.05.07.pdf
Information Security Team:
Cheryl Bowman, Information Security Risk Advisor 831-6574 cbowman@epcc.edu
Richard Becker, Security Analyst 831-6411 rbecker3@epcc.edu
Richard Buller, Chief Information Security Officer 831-6312 rbuller@epcc.edu
El Paso County Community College District does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, religion, gender, age or disability.