An E-letter for family and friends of Slippery Rock University

Vol. 2 Issue 29
Oct. 30, 2009

CYBER SECURE: Justin Liebler, a 2002 Slippery Rock University computer science graduate and the current manager of Internet operations for Armstrong Cable, shared his tips for achieving greater cyber security with more than 100 students in the Advanced Technology and Science Hall Auditorium. Liebler's Tuesday presentation was part of Cyber Crime Awareness Month.

Rock graduate shares cyber risks, security tips

SLIPPERY ROCK, Pa. - "It's a scary cyber world out there," according to Justin Liebler, a cyber security expert. Cyber criminals are using more sophisticated e-mail ruses such as "spoofing" and "phishing" in an attempt to obtain users' personal information for credit card and identify theft, he said.

Students should not communicate with strangers online and must be leery of attachments or any e-mail requesting a credit card number, Liebler, a 2002 Slippery Rock University graduate and current manager of Internet operations for Armstrong Cable, told more than 100 students Tuesday as part of SRU's Cyber Crime Awareness Month. He said students should not publish e-mail addresses online and should keep Facebook and MySpace pages as private as possible.

Liebler, a computer science graduate, discussed emerging trends in cyber crime, such as users who hack into social networking sites or who create bogus Web page that mimic well known sites. He urged students to be more cautious about posting their e-mail addresses and date of birth anywhere online and said they should not post home addresses or even a photograph of their car online because criminals use license plate numbers to obtain personal information. He said never to give anyone access to your hard drive.

"Be smart with what you're doing; think about what you're doing," he said. "You'd be surprised what you have on your computer. It's easy to think nobody would want it. But someone might be able to figure out your birthday, which a lot of people use as their PIN number."

He said students should encrypt their data and use unusual passwords, never a first or last name. Even USB flash drives can be risky if you use them at another computer besides your own because they could leave personal information on the public computer. "USB drives are very insecure," he said.

He categorized e-mail scams into several categories, including "request for help," "spoofing" and "phishing." Request for help e-mail scams are very popular and include a plea for the recipient to send money in the hopes of receiving even more money in return.

"Sometimes, the senders claim to be having problems with the government, so they need a few hundred dollars from you," he said. "You send them the money and you never hear from them again. This seems to be more prevalent these days. You see it once a month or so."

Spoofing involves an e-mail that looks like it is coming from someone you know, someone you work with, or an employer. The e-mail will often include an attachment or a link requesting personal information such as a date of birth or social security number.

Users should be cautious even with attachments from friends or relatives. Liebler said he recently received an attachment that appeared to come from his brother, but when he called and asked him about it, his brother denied sending the attachment.

"If you get an attachment from someone you don't know, you most likely don't want to open it because you have no idea what it is," he said. "If it's from someone you know, were you expecting it? Were you not expecting it?" You should never give out your date of birth or social security number via e-mail.

Phishing asks users to upgrade their server or install a new program that requires personal information or a credit card number. A common scam involves a sales offer for a $20 cell phone that asks for a credit card number.

"They may say ‘We're going to do some upgrades to your server and we need to verify your user name and password and the country or territory you are in,'" he said. "With bogus offers, what they're trying to do is make you feel comfortable with what you're seeing."

Social networking sites give users a false sense of security, he said. "There is a lot of personal information on them that can be used to steal your identity," he said.

Liebler said people should never approve a Facebook friend they don't know; complete quizzes that include personal questions; or assume everyone is who they claim to be. Call and verify a person's identification and block him or her if you have any doubts.

"Social networking sites are a dream for cyber criminals," Liebler said. "Everyone's on there, and there is an abundance of information."

Liebler, who earned his master's degree in information science at the University of Pittsburgh, is a member of Armstrong's lead team for systems administration and programming. He handles daily operations of Zoom Internet to more than 175,000 customers.

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