Cybersecurity is an issue that Greenville Utilities takes very seriously. Our Information Technology (IT) Department has a lot of safeguards in place to protect our systems and maintain our customers’ trust. In recognition of National Cybersecurity Month, GUC is once again taking extra measures to get the word out to employees and customers on how we can all play a part in keeping our personal and work information safe. 

The National Cyber Security Alliance has broken the month into four themes. We’ll touch briefly on the first three themes and focus more on the final theme around password management.  

Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) 
MFA is a security mechanism that requires an individual to provide two or more credentials (such as a password plus a security code) in order to authenticate their identity. Employees are already required to use MFA, and IT encourages us to do the same on our personal devices and those of our families. The same company that provides the training for our employees (Knowbe4) has a free home-based program that our families can use to learn more about MFA and other important cyber safety topics. Log on to www.knowbe4.com/homecourse and enter “homecourse” for the password. 

Phishing 
Phishing is when criminals use fake emails, social media posts, or direct messages with the goal of luring you to click on a dangerous link or download a malicious attachment. We have all received countless emails and training sessions over the past few years on how to spot phishing attempts. As a reminder, you can use the Phish Alert Button (PAB) to give IT the information they need to defend GUC against the effects of malicious email attacks. Emails submitted with PAB that are classified as malicious are automatically quarantined from all other mailboxes in GUC. Your actions can prevent another user from accidentally clicking on a link that could compromise GUC.  

Regular Device Updates 
One of the easiest ways to keep your information secure is to keep your software and apps updated. These updates fix general software problems and provide new security patches where criminals might get in. Our IT Department does a great job with not only keeping our devices and software updated at least weekly, but with reminding us to run our own updates as well. If you’re not already, get in the habit of running those updates as soon as you see the email from IT. It’s also a good time to update your family’s devices.   

Password Manager and LastPass Employee Benefit 
Many of us continue to expand our lives online through social networking, shopping, banking, working, and much more - managing upwards of 100 or more online accounts. The tendency for most people is to use the same password for many of their accounts—and that’s not safe. If your one password gets stolen in a breach, it can give criminals access to your entire digital life. This is where password managers can help.  

Password managers are apps or browser plugins that store your passwords, even auto filling your passwords for you across devices and locations. With a few clicks, you can generate new, secure passwords that are long, unique, and complex.  

A password manager is the best way to create and maintain strong passwords for our ever-increasing number of online accounts. These programs store your usernames and passwords in a secure, encrypted database called a “vault.” 

The great news is that GUC employees now have access to a password manager called LastPass. IT has been using LastPass for three years and, after testing with non-IT employees over the past few months, is now ready to make this available to any employee requesting it. In addition to being able to sign up for a GUC LastPass business account, employees can also receive a free LastPass Families account. 

With the free Families account (which would cost $48 per year if purchased from LastPass), you can set up a personal account (with its own vault) for your personal passwords and invite up to five family members to sign up for their own personal LastPass account. Family members can conveniently share passwords. While your family account is free because of your employment with GUC, your personal family vaults are kept separate from the info in your GUC vault. Whenever your GUC employment ends, you can retain access to the families account by purchasing a subscription at the LastPass website. You can also set up a free personal account for just yourself. 

Contact the Help Desk if you’d like to start using LastPass. They’ll be glad to set up an appointment to get you “jump started” into keeping your passwords safe and secure with LastPass.    

Coming Up 
Cyber criminals have a history of ramping up their attacks around major shopping holidays. Be on the lookout for information in the coming weeks about an optional Knowbe4 training focused on safe cyber holiday shopping.