Cyber Security Awareness Month Don't Let One Click Sink Your Semester

Information Security

Mission Statement

The Information Security Office is committed to lowering the risk profile of the University’s electronic information by implementing industry best practices to protect the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of student, faculty, and staff information. We uphold the University’s compliance obligations by developing information security policies, providing security awareness training, and overseeing the implementation of strategic information security initiatives.

Scam of the Week

Delayed Refund, Departing Funds

Imagine you have a trip coming up, and an email from Frontier Airlines arrives saying that the payment for your flight reservation did not go through. Then, another email comes in claiming that this ticketing error means you are entitled to a refund. The email includes your exact flight details and a confirmation number. It also includes a link, and it asks you to confirm the card you used to book. With travel plans coming up, you may feel pressure to address the issue right away.

But this email is actually a phishing scam! Frontier Airlines has confirmed that an active external phishing scam is targeting its customers. Frontier has since verified that it does not ask customers to confirm card details or provide payment information to receive a refund. However, if you select the link in the scam email and enter your payment card information, cybercriminals could use it to steal money from your account. A seemingly real confirmation email with your personal information does not make an email legitimate.

Follow these tips to avoid falling victim to this airline refund scam:

Never confirm your payment card information through an email link, and instead go directly to the airline's official website or app to review your reservation.
Do not trust a message just because it includes your real flight details or confirmation number.
If you entered your card information into a suspicious link, contact your card issuer right away.

Time It Takes a Hacker to Brute Force Your Password in 2026
Hardware: 16 x RTX 5090 | Password Hash: bcrypt(10)

Number of Characters	Numbers Only	Lowercase Letters	Upper and Lower Case Letters	Numbers, Upper and Lowercase Letters	Numbers, Upper and Lowercase Letters, Symbols
4	Instantly	Instantly	Instantly	Instantly	Instantly
5	Instantly	Instantly	46 minutes	2 hours	3 hours
6	Instantly	37 minutes	2 days	5 Days	1 week
7	Instantly	16 hours	3 months	10 Months	2 years
8	Instantly	2 weeks	12 years	50 years	132 years
9	2 hours	1 year	636 years	3k years	9k years
10	20 hours	32 years	33k years	191k years	645k years
11	1 week	839 years	1m years	11m years	45m years
12	3 months	21k years	89m years	737m years	3bn years
13	2 years	567k years	4bn years	45bn years	221bn years
14	23 years	14m years	241bn years	2tn years	15tn years
15	229 years	383m years	12tn years	175tn years	1qd years
16	2k years	9bn years	653tn years	10qd years	75qd years
17	22k years	259bn years	33qd years	675qd years	5qn years
18	228k years	6tn years	1qn years	41qn years	372qn years