SIRT Roundtable discussions are open to the K-State community and focus on IT security topics that impact the campus. SIRT reserves the right to change discussion topics based on current IT events affecting K-Staters.
Check this page periodically for updates. Questions about the roundtable discussions should be sent to a SIRT representative.
No roundtables are scheduled at this time.
Friday, May 4, 2012
Traveling Safely
Facilitator: Harvard Townsend
Presentation Slides
Summertime makes Manhattan seem like a ghost town as K-State students, faculty and staff hit the roads
and airways for distant lands. The potential rewards of personal and professional travel are great,
but so are the security risks.
This seminar will provide tips on how to protect yourself from identity theft, financial fraud and
other threats related to information and technology while traveling for business or pleasure.
Topics discussed included:
Friday, April 6, 2012
K-State's Firewall Infrastructure
Facilitator: Richard Becker
Every day, K-State systems are scanned by malicious remote hosts looking for vulnerabilities to exploit for nefarious purposes. Firewalls play a critical role in reducing the risk that these vulnerabilities will be exploited and university data exposed. If you would like to learn more about K-State's firewall environment and how it can be leveraged to help you secure the IT assets you manage, please plan on joining us.
Topics discussed:
Friday, Aug 12, 2011
Patching Security Vulnerabilities in Operating System and
Application Software
Facilitator: Nick Brown
Nick Brown from iTAC will demonstrate how to apply patches on systems imaged with Deep Freeze. The rest of the time will be an open discussion about the topics listed above, the challenges you face in supporting a wide variety of systems, and tips and tricks you've found to meet those challenges.
This roundtable is intended to be an information sharing session among practitioners as opposed to formal presentation. Come share your experiences and knowledge so all can benefit from the collective wisdom. As always, the IT security roundtable is open to anyone.
Friday, May 6, 2011
Summer Traveling Safety Tips, Redeux
Facilitator: Harvard Townsend
Presentation Materials available here:
Presentation Slides
Summertime makes Manhattan seem like a ghost town as K-State students,
faculty, and staff hit the roads and airways for distant lands. The
potential rewards of personal and professional travel are great, but so
are the security risks. This IT security roundtable discussed tips on how to
travel safely so you know what to do to stay protected from identity theft,
financial fraud, and other threats related to information and technology while
on vacation.
Topics discussed included:
January 14, 2011
Protecting Credit Card Information
Facilitator: Harvard Townsend
Presentation Materials available here:
Presentation Slides
Handouts:
PCI DSS Primer
PCI Basics
The payment card industry (PCI) has rather strict security requirements for
any merchant that accepts credit cards for payment.
If your department at K-State accepts credit card payments, then you
must comply with these data security standards (DSS), for which version
2.0 was recently published.
Harvard Townsend, K-State’s chief information security officer, will
provide an overview of PCI DSS 2.0 and plans for compliance at K-State.
This primer will benefit both the staff who handle credit card
transactions for a department as well as the IT staff who support the
technology associated with credit card payments.
Beyond complying with this industry requirement, proper protection of
credit card information is critical to maintaining the trust of those
who purchase goods and services from K-State. Furthermore, the cost of a
breach is enormous both in financial terms as well as the potential
damage to K-State’s reputation. The importance of protecting credit card
information cannot be overstated. If you are involved in handling or
supporting credit card transactions, plan now to attend this important
seminar.
November 5 and December 3, 2010
SecureIT@K-State
Facilitator: Neil Sindicich
Presentation not available online at this time
Social Networking Risks
Facilitator: Harvard Townsend
Presentation Available
Social networks like Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and MySpace are a fact of life (and for some, obsessions!),
especially for the current generation of students at K-State. The reality is if you want to communicate with that
generation, you need to have a presence in social media. The other reality is that hackers/criminals know this is
where people spend their time and therefore target these platforms.
Social networks have also permanently altered the privacy landscape on many fronts — the information we post about
ourselves, what others post about us, and the information about you that the social networking sites themselves harvest
and perhaps share with third parties.
Join us for a discussion on the security risks of social networking. We will discuss the ways hackers are using social
networks to try to infect your computer with malicious software and/or steal your personal information; the subtle and
not-so-subtle threats to your privacy; and tips on how to navigate the social networking landscape safely.
Harvard Townsend, K-State’s chief information security officer, will give a presentation and facilitate the discussion.
Come share your experiences and tips so all can benefit from the collective wisdom. As always, the IT security roundtable
is open to anyone.
Friday, May 7, 2010
Traveling Safety!
Facilitator: Harvard Townsend
Presentation Available
Summertime makes Manhattan seem like a ghost town as K-State students, faculty, and staff hit the roads and airways for distant lands. The potential rewards of personal and professional travel are great, but so are the security risks. Thus, this month’s IT security roundtable will discuss tips on how to travel safely so people can protect themselves from identity theft, financial fraud, and other threats related to information and technology while on vacation.
This is a repeat of the roundtable given a year ago, updated with new information.
Friday, April 9, 2010
Safe Web Browsing for Everyone!
Facilitator: Harvard Townsend
Powerpoint Available
Did you know your computer can get infected simply by visiting a website and not clicking on any links? Furthermore, it doesn’t have to be a nefarious site — many reputable, popular websites have inadvertently hosted malicious advertisements. If that isn't scary enough, one study found that 13 percent of Google searches for popular or trendy topics yielded malicious links near the top of the search results.
Web browsing is now the most popular target used by hackers to try to take over control of your computer, so this month’s IT security roundtable will discuss how to browse the Web safely, or at least lower the risk of infecting your computer since there is no way to be 100 percent secure browsing the Web these days.
Topics covered include:
Friday, January 15, 2010
Help! Passwords are driving me crazy!
Facilitator: Harvard Townsend
Powerpoint Available
It’s time once again to change your eID password so what better topic for this month’s IT security roundtable than managing your passwords. Online shopping, social networking sites, games, iTunes, PayPal, travel sites (frequent flier accounts, Expedia, Orbitz, etc.), online banking (checking, savings, credit cards, loans), news and sports sites, blogs and wikis, cellphone account, home Internet provider, cable/satellite TV, your home computer, your laptop, your office computer, your departmental server, K-State’s eID, personal e-mail, K-State e-mail, flexible spending accounts… the list keeps growing. And all of them require a username and password. It’s enough to drive you crazy!
To help maintain your sanity, join us to hear solutions to effectively manage your passwords:
Friday, December 4, 2009
Recognizing Email Scams
Facilitator: Harvard Townsend
Powerpoint Available
Malicious e-mail attachments wreaked havoc on K-State computers a few weeks ago, while spear phishing scams that steal eID passwords have been a persistent plague. As hackers continue to find new, more clever ways to trick people, it is important for all users to educate themselves about e-mail scams and be constantly on the alert for new scams that arrive in people’s K-State e-mail daily. Consequently, December’s monthly IT security roundtable discussion will provide tips to help people recognize e-mail scams and thus protect themselves from identity theft, financial fraud, compromised computers, and more. Some of the topics discussed are:
Friday, November 6, 2009
New Versions of Trend Micro Security Software
Facilitator: Harvard Townsend & Shea McGrew
Powerpoint Available
The November roundtable covered the new versions of Trend Micro security software deploying the week of November 9th. The discussion included the following for both Trend Micro OfficeScan 10 for Windows and Trend Micro Security for Macs 1.5:
In addition, the removal of Symantec Antivirus from Macs before installing Trend Micro was discussed since K-State's Symantec license expired on October 27.
Friday, September 11, 2009
New Operating Systems
Facilitator: Harvard Townsend
Powerpoint Available
Covered topics included:
Friday, August 14, 2009
Malicious Email
Facilitator: Harvard Townsend
Powerpoint Available
Topic: Thousands of people at K-State received malicious e-mails over the last month claiming to be shipping instructions from Amazon.com, an eCard greeting from Hallmark, or Jessica wanting to meet you. This attack was particularly effective, resulting in well over 100 compromised computers around campus. This discussion helped attendees learn the characteristics of this attack, why it was so effective compared to others, and what you they can do to prevent becoming a victim in the future.
Friday, June 5, 2009
Deploying PGP Whole Disk Encryption
Facilitator: Josh McCune
No Powerpoint Available
The June roundtable covered deployment of PGP Whole Disk Encryption software. Josh McCune demonstrated a client installation, which several of you had requested to see before doing your own installations. It was also a chance for anyone involved in deploying PGP to encrypt laptops and desktops to ask questions and share experiences.
Friday, May 8, 2009
Traveling Safety
Facilitator: Harvard Townsend
Powerpoint Available
Summary: Attendees discussed things that can be done to ensure that even while traveling this summer your data remains safe and secure. Topics covered included both physical and electronic security measures for using your computer on the road, from simply keeping a close eye on your laptop while it goes through the airport screener, to using a VPN client when logging onto the K-State network when off campus.
Friday, January 16, 2009
New IT Security Policies at K-State
Facilitator: Harvard Townsend
Powerpoint Available
Summary: Attendees discussed the creation of policies based on the state review of K-State's existing policies. Consideration was given to how these guidelines could help to harden the K-State's security as well as the difficulty in implementing some of them on a shoestring budget.
Friday, December 12, 2008
PGP Laptop Encryption
Facilitators: Harvard Townsend and Marin Dowlin
Powerpoint Available
Summary: Attendees discussed the implementation and installation of PGP Whole Disk Encryption on laptops containing confidential K-State information. The install process was discussed and the product was demonstrated in Windows and Mac OS.