Cyber Security Awareness Month Don't Let One Click Sink Your Semester

Information Security

Mission Statement

The Information Security Office is committed to lowering the risk profile of the University’s electronic information by implementing industry best practices to protect the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of student, faculty, and staff information. We uphold the University’s compliance obligations by developing information security policies, providing security awareness training, and overseeing the implementation of strategic information security initiatives.

Scam of the Week

The Reply Trap

A text lights up your phone screen from a number you don't recognize, saying, "Hey, are we still on for dinner tomorrow?" The message is clearly meant for someone else, but it seems ordinary and friendly. Since it feels rude not to respond, you consider sending a quick reply just to let the sender know they've got the wrong person.

But that seemingly harmless text is actually a trap set by cybercriminals! Scammers rely on your reply to mark you as an easy target. Your reply confirms to cybercriminals that your number is active, and then they'll sell it on the dark web to other scammers. Once your phone number appears on one of these dark web lists, you might see more scam texts or calls in the future!

Follow these tips to avoid falling victim to this smishing, or text phishing, scam:

If you receive a suspicious text, mark it as spam or junk and block the sender’s number. These actions also help your phone provider flag and block similar messages for other users.
Avoid sharing your phone number publicly. The less accessible your number is, the harder it is for cybercriminals to find and target it in the first place.
You may think replying to these kinds of texts is friendly, but it could mark you as a target for future scams. Always stop and think before you respond!

Time It Takes a Hacker to Brute Force Your Password in 2026
Hardware: 16 x RTX 5090 | Password Hash: bcrypt(10)

Number of Characters	Numbers Only	Lowercase Letters	Upper and Lower Case Letters	Numbers, Upper and Lowercase Letters	Numbers, Upper and Lowercase Letters, Symbols
4	Instantly	Instantly	Instantly	Instantly	Instantly
5	Instantly	Instantly	46 minutes	2 hours	3 hours
6	Instantly	37 minutes	2 days	5 Days	1 week
7	Instantly	16 hours	3 months	10 Months	2 years
8	Instantly	2 weeks	12 years	50 years	132 years
9	2 hours	1 year	636 years	3k years	9k years
10	20 hours	32 years	33k years	191k years	645k years
11	1 week	839 years	1m years	11m years	45m years
12	3 months	21k years	89m years	737m years	3bn years
13	2 years	567k years	4bn years	45bn years	221bn years
14	23 years	14m years	241bn years	2tn years	15tn years
15	229 years	383m years	12tn years	175tn years	1qd years
16	2k years	9bn years	653tn years	10qd years	75qd years
17	22k years	259bn years	33qd years	675qd years	5qn years
18	228k years	6tn years	1qn years	41qn years	372qn years