Rankin County, Mississippi

Security tips & information from the IT Department

You'd hate to be that person that causes the County to be in the news for a data leak, like the employees at the University of Virginia, would you? If not, take 5 minutes to read through these short tips or watch the videos below.

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Security tips and information for Rankin County employees:

• Never give out login info (phone, in person, email).
• Roll the mouse pointer over links to reveal the actual destination, displayed in the bottom left corner of the browser. In Microsoft Outlook it is displayed above the link.
• When using public Wi-Fi, refrain from sending or receiving private information.
• Report any loss or theft of your company issued smartphone/tablet/laptop immediately to IT.
• Be leery of items from unknown sources or even suspicious links from trusted sources. When in doubt, delete it!
• Think twice before clicking that link.
• Report any security incident (ex. responding to a scam email with your login credentials) to IT immediately. The sooner, the better. Because we may be able to stop it!
• Use strong passwords, yes they do help! Tip: Passphrases are easier to remember, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Passphrase, example: The brown dog ate my homework at 9PM! or I just love coming to work at 7AM!

More details on phishing: https://www.bloomu.edu/technology/phishing  

Password Do's and Don'ts: https://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2009/08/password_advice.html 

Real World Password lengths: https://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2006/12/realworld_passw.html 

Short videos, if the tips are too long to read: