It’s that time again kiddies! With the back-to-school season just around the corner, students are concerned with getting their books, living arrangements and IT sorted out. Who thinks to worry about security?

The main security threats to students are identity theft, data loss and data theft. Identity and data theft are both becoming growing problems around Canadian campuses.

Students are particularly vulnerable since they tend to have important information lying around such as social insurance numbers, bank statements and loan papers. On university campuses, students are more likely to use insecure wireless connections and are prone to losing laptops and storage devices.

Data theft is most prominent in programs where workload is high. It’s a lot easier to steal someone’s assignment than write it when you’re crushed under deadlines. This becomes a serious issue if two (or more) students hand in similar work. Unless you can somehow prove you’re the original author, usually you will share the same consequences as the person who committed the theft.

The consequences of identity theft can be much more dire. Students often take a relaxed approach to identity theft since they see themselves as having very little to steal in the way of bank balance. Unfortunately credit is another story altogether. Students are bombarded with credit and loan offers and it is all too easy for an identity thief to take advantage of a fresh credit rating.

So what steps should students be taking to make themselves a much harder target? Luckily, it’s not difficult to take basic precautions. Here’s a list of some of the important steps you should take.

1. Make sure your backup routine is bulletproof. When I was writing my M.Sc thesis, I kept a backup in my freezer. You should have at least three copies of all data: the original, a local backup and an off-site backup. Get an external hard drive to make local backups of your files. I use the cloud for my off-site backups. You should definitely look into Dropbox, which will back up files to all of your computers and keep them synchronized. If you’re willing to pay a couple bucks a month, I highly recommend you try out Jungle Disk. Alternatively, or Carbonite (Windows and Mac only) may be good options as well.
2. Microsoft Internet Explorer users need to be extra security concious as the browser may have more security vulnerabilities. I personally recommend Google Chrome or Firefox.
3. Buy a shredder for sensitive documents. Most students don’t consider the sensitive information they throw to rubbish. Take care to destroy anything that contains your social insurance number, drivers license number, bank numbers, account numbers and alike.When you buy a shredder, make sure it does cross-shredding. This meaning that it not only cuts paper into long strips but then cross-cuts the strips into smaller pieces. A bonus may also be a shredder that destroys CDs.
4. Keep your software up to date. You know how your computer keeps bugging you to make updates? It’s very important that you do. Those updates include important security patches without which, you are vulnerable. A hacker’s bread-and-butter are people who don’t update their computers.
5. Use strong passwords and Lastpass on all your computers and mobile devices. A previous article in this series dealt with strong passwords. The shortest vector to your important information is through your passwords. Do what it takes to protect them.Using a password manager like Lastpass allows you to quickly and easily re-secure yourself if you ever lose your laptop, tablet or smartphone.In addition to adding incredible security, Lastpass also offers convenience features that will spoil you. For example, form auto-filling and passwords synced across multiple devices.
6. Keep an encrypted memory stick using Truecrypt. It’s so easy to lose a memory stick, and it can be very troublesome if there’s any sensitive information on it.Files on your memory sticks should never be originals, so data loss should not be a problem if you lose them. The problem is really the sensitive data, assignment files and alike. Truecrypt is so secure that even the FBI can’t hack it if you use it properly.
7. Act quickly if you lose your wallet, purse or backpack. Losing these items is the most common start to an identity theft nightmare.
8. Sign out of secure sites. Don’t leave an open login to a website where sensitive information is exchanged or kept. Always sign out of your bank website, credit card website, etc.If you use Lastpass, you can allow it to automatically log you out of sites.
9. Avoid public computers and open (non-password protected) wireless. You never know what sort of spyware is running on public computers. If you possibly can, never use a public computer for anything sensitive.Always remember that if you didn’t type a password for your wireless connection, it means that you do not have a secure and encrypted connection to the internet. When you’re using an unsecured wireless connection, you’re potentially blasting sensitive information at everyone around you.
10. Secure your personal wireless router. Be sure to use WPA/PSK security (not WEP). If it’s convenient, don’t let your router broadcast its SSID. This prevents anyone who doesn’t know about the router from connecting to it.
11. Cover the keypad when you use debit. Most stores have cameras positioned towards the clerk. Often these cameras can easily capture pin numbers. Don’t be embarrassed to play your cards close to your chest.

This list is by no means exhaustive, but if you form good security habits from these steps you become a much more difficult target, and avoid some very bad situations.

The Everyday User Security series:

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