Dear Colleagues,

In light of the recent crisis in Ukraine, US intelligence agencies have been warning organizations to maintain a heightened state of cyber vigilance. Although there is a definite, increased risk of widespread cybersecurity attacks, intelligence agencies are informing organizations and individuals to prepare rather than panic (attacks of this nature are often intended to cause fear and confusion). Fortunately, top cybersecurity companies have extensive knowledge of the tools and techniques used by bad actors as well as the means to detect and thwart them.

Over the past few years, ITS has been exercising its vigilance by means of a multi-layered security approach that uses several industry-leading cybersecurity tools such as:

• Cylance Next-Generation Antivirus to protect servers and workstations by detecting behavioral patterns.
• Palo Alto Next-Generation Firewalls for intrusion prevention and deep-packet inspection.
• Microsoft Office 365 Online Protection to filter spam and malware, and protect PII from being sent or shared outside the District.
• SecureWorks Managed Security Services to supply network-level advanced threat detection, shared threat intelligence, and rapid incident mitigation.
• Tenable Security Center to identify, prioritize, and mitigate server and workstation vulnerabilities.

As you continue to work remotely, ITS asks that you maintain your vigilance by:

• Implementing best security practices while working from home,
• Being able to recognize phishing attempts and common types of scams, and
• Protecting yourself from ransomware.

Lastly, please make sure to review Password and Passphrase Best Practices.

If you have any questions regarding this or any other previous advisory, please feel free to email the Office of Information Security.