Cyber Talk

Cyber Talk

December 15, 2021

Cybersecurity Awareness Month is now in the rear-view mirror, but our work to keep us all cyber safe continues with this new monthly ‘Cyber Talk’ column in Spotlight. Each month, ‘Cyber Talk’ will include statistics on GUC’s Phish Alert Button usage and, occasionally, any relevant cybersecurity tips or updates. 

This month, we kick off the new column with an update on the Phish Alert Button from the Information Technology (IT) Department’s Cybersecurity Resource Center. But first, what is this new resource center? 

Cybersecurity Resource Center 
IT has dedicated a site on SharePoint to help keep GUC cyber safe. The site contains a variety of informational posts from both IT staff and outside resources, along with links to many cybersecurity topics of interest to GUC employees (like this month’s 12 Tips for Holiday Shopping). You can get to the Cybersecurity Resource Center by logging into SharePoint and clicking MyGUC, Departments, Information Technology, Cybersecurity Resource Center.  

The following is an excerpt from IT’s most recent post in the resource center about the Phish Alert Button. 

Be a Hero - Use the Phish Alert Button (PAB)
You receive an email asking you to take an action. Sounds suspicious, right? But don’t worry. You can be a hero by taking the correct action and giving the IT Department the information that we need to defend GUC against the effects of malicious email attacks. It’s easy thanks to the Phish Alert Button, or PABfor short.   

Emails that are 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. 

Until recently, the PAB was not an option on an iPhone or iPad. We are excited to announce that the PAB is now available on theMicrosoft Outlook Appfor iOS. If you are still using the Apple Mail app, now is a great time to switch to the Outlook App and have the PAB available for use on these mobile devices. Just open the App Store, search for "Microsoft Outlook," install that app, and log in.   

Phish Alert Button Statistics
IT is now tracking use of the Phish Alert Button. The following statistics are from November and will be updated each month here in Spotlight. Knowbe4 is the company that provides cyber training to GUC employees, and occasionally sends mock phish emails to test our cyber awareness.