IT security: Important information for everyone working from home

A great number of our employees are working online from home at the moment, making Aarhus University more vulnerable to cyber criminals than usual. The Centre for Cyber Crime has already told us that the threat to Denmark has increased, and we know that cyber criminals will try to exploit the corona situation. Aarhus University is observing the guidelines issued by the Centre for Cyber Crime, and would like to ask all our employees to be aware of the following points in particular:

Phishing emails and smishing (sending false text messages)

• Please be aware of the risk of false emails or text messages that look like news about corona. Be very cautious when clicking on links in emails and text messages – and when opening files attached to emails.
• Never give away confidential information (your AU password, for instance) via links in emails or when replying to emails.
• Check out the typical signs of phishing emails.  

VPN

When you log on to the virtual private network (VPN), it’s like working on a computer at AU: you have the same level of protection. In other words, your internet connection is encrypted, which makes it invisible to anyone who might want to intercept your data. Read more about VPN.

To academic staff

• Use the VPN as much as possible when working from home.
• But note than you may only use the VPN network if you’re working on AU equipment – that is to say, equipment provided to you by AU, such as your work computer.
• If you can’t work on AU equipment but have to work on a personal pc instead, for security reasons, do not install or log onto VPN.
• If you are currently using your personal computer but you have an AU computer at the university, you are allowed to go to campus to pick up your equipment.
• If you are teaching remotely, you should temporarily log off the VPN network during the teaching session to ensure the best user experience. We also ask you to be careful not to share sensitive personal data and confidential information while teaching remotely, because your data isn’t encrypted when you’re not logged on the VPN.
• Be aware that the VPN can cause problems with online meetings, for instance. Log off during your meeting and log in again afterwards.  

To administrative staff

• Use the VPN as much as possible when working from home.
• But note than you may only use the VPN network if you’re working on AU equipment – that is to say, equipment provided to you by AU, such as your work computer.
• If you can’t work on AU equipment but have to work on a personal pc instead, for security reasons, do not install or log onto VPN.
• If you are currently using your personal computer but you have an AU computer at the university, you are allowed to go to campus to pick up your equipment.
• Be aware that the VPN can cause problems with online meetings, for instance. Log off during your meeting and log in again afterwards.  

Please use AU hardware and approved software

• Please use the tools and communication channels provided by the university. More information about working from home.
• Please remember that AU’s information security policy also applies when you’re working from home.
• This means (for instance) that you should not share AU data from your private email account and/or file exchange services such as Dropbox and Google Drive, because AU does not have a data processing agreement with these services.  

Keep your wits about you, and use your common sense

• For more information about information security, please use this check list.   
• If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact AU’s information security department at: informationssikkerhed@au.dk.