Best Practices

Help keep information and devices more secure.

We all wear seatbelts in cars, wash our hands before leaving the bathroom or preparing food, and lock the doors to our homes when we leave. These are simple actions which keep us safe and healthy.

Likewise, security awareness should be about taking simple actions which keep us safe and healthy when using the Internet. Small changes like these will not only help you protect Harvard’s information but will help you protect yourself and your family.

The following are considered best practices that will help you improve your security posture.

  • Protecting Yourself Against Phishing

    Clicking on a phishing email could cause you significant grief, and possibly even personal financial and reputational damage. Learn to better identify these threats and how to avoid them.

  • Working Remotely?

    These best practices will help you ensure that your home office is safe and secure, both for benefit of the University and for the benefit of you and your loved ones.

  • Encrypting Email

    When sending sensitive information to other people, you need to be extremely careful regarding what tools you use.

  • Password Managers

    A password manager can help you juggle the need to have unique complex passwords at every site.

Why would someone attack me?

It’s easy to think that you might be safe because an attacker has nothing to gain by coming after you specifically.

And you’re not wrong: No one is coming specifically after you. Bad actors cast wide nets hoping they will catch something that will eventually lead them to something bigger.

So they target large groups of people all at once. You could be part of one of these groups, which include:

  1. People who work at a specific organization

  2. People who have a specific phone or OS version

  3. Everyone who might have an account with a social media platform (like Facebook or Gmail)

  4. Anyone who might have used a popular service (like Amazon, PayPal, Netflix, or the U.S. Post Office).

Other Resources

  • StaySafeOnline.org

    The National Cyber Security Alliance hosts tools and advice on how to protect yourself and your family.