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

A Listing With Your Name On It

A message pops up on your phone asking, "Is this still available for purchase?" Attached to the message is a picture of what appears to be a Facebook Marketplace listing with your name listed as the seller. Your first thought may be, "That isn't me!" and you might feel tempted to reply right away to try to fix the situation.

But this message is actually a scam! The listing is fake, and cybercriminals are counting on you to reply. If you reply to this message, it shows that your phone number is active. An active phone number can be sold to other scammers, who will use it to try to hack your device or take over your Facebook account.

Follow these tips to avoid falling victim to this fake Facebook Marketplace listing scam:

Don’t reply to unexpected messages from people you don’t know, even if you want to correct a mistake.
If you know the sender but receive a suspicious message, verify it with the sender through a different communication method.
Limit the personal information you share publicly. Cybercriminals can use details like your name to make their messages seem more believable.

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