Computer Security

How can I secure my computer?

The newspapers are full of horror stories about computers being trashed by viruses, credit card information being captured by sniffers, and your Internet connection being hijacked by people making long distance calls to Belarus. The Network section of this handbook addressed the need to protect your ACC computer from external attacks by viruses, worms, spyware and the like by running Command Anti-virus updates regularly. The section on Email Spam walked you through the steps to reduce spam attacks on your ACC email account. This section addresses an even more basic computer security need - the need for internal computer security.

You need to protect your computer from those around you. Student records, personnel records, and college financial information are displayed from many ACC computers all day long in many different work areas.

If COCO/BANNER is open on your computer when you leave your desk, anybody off the street can steal this information.

If you need to walk away from your desk for even a minute, take one or all of these steps to prevent unauthorized people from getting access to your computer:

• Exit COCO/BANNER
• Log off (logging off saves you the trouble of restarting your computer when you return)
• Close and lock your office door

NEVER STORE FILES WITH COCO/BANNER RAW DATA ON YOUR HARD DRIVE, A FLASH DRIVE OR OTHER PORTABLE STORAGE MEDIUM.

How can I "quick lock" my computer?

You're in the middle of working with BANNER data and you're called away from your desk. To save you the hassle of exiting BANNER and logging off your computer, you can use a quick lock command that

• keeps current applications open but hides them
• prevents everybody except campus technology staff from accessing your computer
• allows you to return to your work in a matter of seconds.

You can "quick lock" your computer using one of the following methods:

Activate Windows Security

Keep any and all programs open just as they are. Then:

1. Press CTRL-ALT-DELETE to open the Windows Security dialog box.
2. Click the Lock Computer button.

The following message will appear over a blanked out screen:

This computer is in use and has been locked. Press CTRL-ALT-Delete to logon using a password.

To unlock your computer, press CTRL-ALT-DELETE and logon.

Use Windows Lock Command

Another quick way to lock your computer is to use the built-in Windows lock command: Press and hold the Windows Key, then press the L key :

+

This message appears:

This computer is in use and has been locked. Press CTRL-ALT-Delete to logon using a password.

To unlock your computer, press CTRL-ALT-DELETE and logon.

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