In light of the current high-profile cyber attacks affecting the NHS along with hundreds of other organizations around the world, I thought I’d share some friendly best practice reminders to help keep the museum’s systems secure.
A key fact to remember about the recent attacks – they all appear to stem from just a single employee’s actions, often opening an infected email attachment, clicking a bad link or inserting an infected USB drive. They are generally untargeted, being sent as far and wide as possible meaning they can infect all computers, no matter who they belong to.
The museum has lots of protections in place including comprehensive backups but the most effective protection against any threat, keeping us one step ahead of the criminals is you.
- Never open attachments or click on links in email messages unless you are absolutely certain the sender is genuine. Spelling mistakes, poor quality images, and strange layouts are often clues somethings not quite right.
- Use best practices for creating strong passwords.
- Never share passwords with anyone, including co-workers.
- Try to send as little sensitive information as possible via email, and send sensitive information only to recipients who require it.
- Exercise caution using pen drives/USB sticks. Never plug in a drive you’ve found or from other uncertain origins. The IT department can assist with checking and cleaning.
- Remember, it is against the law to store any unencrypted personal data on removable storage; this includes CDs, DVDs, pen drives, portable hard disks and mobile devices such as phones and tablets.
If you have questions or concerns please don’t hesitate to ask.
Andy – [email protected]
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