Current Message

Information release from 18.12.2024

Cyberthreats over the holidays: Protect yourself!

Various surveys repeatedly show that holidays and weekends are the preferred time windows for cyber attacks on companies and institutions. In the period between Christmas and New Year, many systems are often not permanently monitored by the responsible administrators, which makes them particularly vulnerable to potential attacks.

We therefore strongly recommend, also in terms of energy saving, to completely shut down all workstation systems (including peripheral devices) over the holidays and not just put them into standby mode. IT systems (e.g. IoT, laboratory equipment, SAN storage) that are not needed during the Christmas break should also be completely shut down.

Regular software updates are also crucial for protection against cyber attacks: make sure that your systems and applications are always up to date. Updates close security gaps that hackers could exploit.

By following these security tips, you help us to minimize the attack surface for potential intruders into the university network.

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us at it-sicherheit@tu-dortmund.de.

We wish you a peaceful holiday season and a happy and healthy new year.

Ralf Offele (Director of Central Services and IS Representative)
and
Ebru Ernesti (Deputy IS Representative)

* e.g. the ransomware holiday risk report at https://www.semperis.com/de/ransomware-holiday-risk-report