Security and Safe Computing

With the increasing number of phishing and spam emails, Farmingdale State College will now be putting a warning banner on all emails that originate from outside of Farmingdale State College (farmingdale.edu).  This will alert you to the authenticity of the sender and to prevent you from clicking on any links or opening any attachments.

The Report Message button is another email security measure.  This button is located on the ribbon in Outlook. The button allows you to report suspicious messages to Microsoft as well as manage how your Microsoft 365 email account treats these messages.

Messages that your email account marks as junk are automatically moved to your Junk Email folder.  However, spammers and phishing attempts are continually evolving.  If you receive a junk email in your inbox, you can use the Report Message button to send the message to Microsoft to help them improve our spam filters. If you find an email in your Junk Email folder that's not spam, you can use the Report Message button to mark it as a legitimate email, move the message to your Inbox, and report the false positive to help Microsoft improve our spam filters. 

Report a message
If you choose the Report Message button on the ribbon, you'll see several different options.

If you choose Junk, Phishing, or Not Junk, you'll have the option to send a copy of the message to Microsoft, along with your classification of the message.  This is optional.  To turn off the option to send a copy of the message to Microsoft, choose Options and then follow the steps listed below.

What's Junk email?
Junk email messages are typically referred to as spam. These are messages that you don't want to receive that may be advertising products you don't use or find offensive. If you choose the Junk option, a copy of the message may be sent to Microsoft to help update our spam filters and the message will be moved from your Inbox to your Junk Email folder.

What's phishing?
Phishing is the practice of luring you into disclosing personal information, such as bank account numbers and passwords. Often phishing messages look legitimate but have deceptive links that actually open fake websites. If you select Phishing, a copy of your message may be sent to Microsoft to help update our filters and the message will be moved from your Inbox to your Junk Email folder.

What's a legitimate email?
If you know the sender and you're expecting the message or if you receive a message that's mistakenly marked as junk, you can use the Report Message button to mark the message as Not Junk. This will move the message from the Junk Email folder back to your Inbox.

Report Message Options
Choosing Options from the Report Message button allows you to choose whether messages are automatically sent to Microsoft when they're reported as junk or phishing attempts. To change your your Report Message options:

1. Choose Options from the Report Message button on the Ribbon.
2. Select one of the following options:
   • Always send a copy of the message to Microsoft
   • Never send a copy of the message to Microsoft
   • Ask before sending a copy of the message to Microsoft
3. Once you've made your selection, choose Save. 

Protect your password.  If you suspect your password has been stolen, change it immediately and report the incident to the Helpdesk. 

Pulse Secure

Symantec EndPoint Protection (students only)

 

With Two-Step Login, even if your password is stolen, the second step of the login process will prevent a thief from breaking in.

 

A new information security awareness training program has been developed for Farmingdale State College by SecuringTheHuman.org in conjunction with the SUNY Office of Information and Technology.  This training program is mandated by NYS Law, SUNY Policy 6608, and SUNY Policy 6900 for all employees who have access to accounts that use the Farmingdale State College computer network.

The training consists of 15 mandatory videos that you will watch.  At the conclusion of each video you will answer three questions before you can move to the next video.  The total time of the videos is 45:23 minutes.  You can stop watching the videos at any point and go back to them at a later time.

Securing the Human has also given Farmingdale State College access to 19 additional videos that are not mandatory to watch.  You may find these videos to be of personal interest to you.  The videos cover topics from Protecting Your Home Network and Protecting Your Personal Computer to Protecting Your Children Online.  We suggest you go back and watch the recommended videos at your leisure.

LOG IN INSTRUCTIONS

The link below will take you to the SUNY Secure Sign On federated login page.  Under Select Campus, choose Farmingdale.  Turn on Remember Campus.  Click LOG IN.  You will be taken to the Farmingdale State College login page that you are familiar with.  Fill in the fields with your information.

For your reference we have provided a link to the SUNY Policy 6608 and SUNY Policy 6900 with an explanation and our responsibilities to secure our network from malicious internet attacks.