Home Campus Services Division of Information Technology Service Directory Online Security
Campus Services

Online Security

The ITS Help Desk is committed to helping students, faculty and staff keep safe online. Below you will find useful information about how you can protect your computer and your personal information when going online. For more questions or information email the Help Desk or call 864-503-5257. 

VPN access from off campus

To access network drives, Peoplesoft and other secure University resources from off campus, users are required to use Cisco VPN software. For more information, please visit this link.

  • In an effort to ensure you understand the information you are storing on your University computer and the risks associated with storing that information, ITS provides a tool called Spirion. This will proactively scan your university-issued computer for Personally Identifiable Information (PII) and provide you with the ability to easily and quickly take action to ensure it is protected.

    At this point the only PII that is being scanned for is social security numbers, credit card numbers and bank routing information, in accordance with state information security requirements. In the future additional PII matches may be added.

    Spirion will automatically scan your computer for files that have social security numbers, credit card information, or other personal data. Once a scan is complete, you will have the opportunity to see a list of files that contain personal data and choose from the following options: 

    • Shred: this will securely delete the whole file
    • Scrub: this will remove only the personal data from the file—it only works for certain file types, such as Microsoft Office documents
    • Secure: use a password to prevent anyone else opening the file

    Questions:
    What if my computer is lost or stolen?
    Please report immediately to the help desk

    What do I do if I think I have a virus?
    Contact help desk for a virus scan and reimaging if necessary

    What should I do if I need to store sensitive information (i.e. social security numbers) on my computer?
    If you are required to store sensitive information for your role, then you must have your computer set to lock with a password when you leave it unattended for more than a few minutes. Depending on the level of data you store (see below for data levels and requirements), you may also need to have extra encryption on your computer as well as completing and signing the following form: Link to signature form

  • The following are some tips to keep your account safe:

    • Never respond to individuals asking for your username and password or asking you to verify your account, even if you know the email address.
    • Always think twice before clicking on links within your email
    • Hover over links to see where they are really directing you to

    What should I do if I clicked on a suspicious link?

    What do they use my username and password for?

    • Stealing data on your computer
    • Spam and to attack other user’s accounts
    • Selling your account information

    Is my data safe?
    Tests, student data and personal information could have been compromised.

    **Did we mention the ITS Help Desk will never ask for your password?

    If you are suspicious about any email please forward it to the Help Desk so we can take appropriate action.

    Think before you click.

  • There are several online resources for securely storing your password so you don't have to reset them every time you forget one. Two free options can be found below: