Security Tips for Students 

One must take some precautionary measures when bringing a computer from home and connecting it to the UCF network. Please follow some of the guidelines below to make your computing experience at UCF as safe as possible.

DO NOT turn on file and print sharing.Many new students bring their computers to UCF from home with file sharing turned on. Although this may have been useful at home, this may be exploited by other users at UCF.
DO NOT run a multi-user operating system (e.g. Windows XP Professional, Windows 2000, Unix, Linux) without a strong password. We find many systems without an Administrator password.	DO set up strong root/Administrator passwords to your operating systems.
DO NOT leave a logged on workstation unattended.	DO  secure your workstation or log off your session when you leave.
DO NOT transmit sensitive data over a non-secure site. Many forms of data traverses on a network in clear text. Please follow these basic steps to avoid unauthorized users from capturing and reading your information: DO NOT send sensitive information (e.g. SSN, credit card number, passwords) over e-mail or instant messaging (AOL, MSN, Yahoo) DO NOT input sensitive data in websites without a secure connection to the site. Look for a lock icon on the bottom right corner of your browser to check if a site is secure.
DO NOT share your account information (e.g. passwords) with any other student or UCF staff. No UCF staff has the authority to ask for your password.
DO NOT use easy to guess passwords.	DO create passwords that contain a mix of numbers and letters (use mixed case) and change them frequently.
DO NOT run a computer without an anti-virus software installed.	DO install free anti-virus software for ResNet residents that you can obtain  here .
DO NOT download programs, applets, and images from unreliable and unknown sources; you might also be downloading Trojan viruses with it.
DO NOT open file attachments from an unsolicited e-mail until you confirm the source by contacting the sender.	DO have an updated anti-virus software running on your system all the time.