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IT Security

The importance of IT Security is constantly growing. The formal definiton of IT Security is:

The protection of information systems against unauthorized access to or modification of information, whether in storage, processing or transit, and against the denial of service to authorized users or the provision of service to unauthorized users, including those measures necessary to detect, document, and counter such threats.

The IT Security threats are constantly changing, but currently we see the following list as the most important ones:

Weak or clear text passwords:

You should always choose a good password. A SECURE PASSWORD should have 8 characters, at least one capital and one small letter, at least one number and one special character. It is of benefit to us all to set a secure password. More information about changing your password can be found in our FAQs.
You should avoid cleartext passwords. Cleartext password are sent over the network unencrypted and therefore are readable to everyone in between. Cleartext password are used in FTP, POP3, IMAP, and on login pages on webservers (if not secured with HTTPS).
Never send any passwords in an email. And be extremely careful if someone asks you for your password by email: we won't do that.
Never use your ZMAW login password for external services.

Malware (Viruses, Worms etc.)

Especially Windows Computer are vulnerable to virus infections.
Always make sure that you have an up to date virus scanner.
The main propagation mechanismen for virus is email. Never open any email attachments from suspicious sources.

Remote Attacks

Remote attacks are used to access a computer connected to the internet. Access is gained through unpatched security holes in the operating system or the services running on your machine.
You should make sure, that your machine is always up to date regarding available patches. If your machine is provided by CIS then CIS takes care of that.
The ZMAW network is protected by a firewall against remote attacks from outside the CIS/DKRZ network.
If you are outside our network, you should protect your computer with a personal firewall.

IT Security

Weak or clear text passwords:

Malware (Viruses, Worms etc.)

Remote Attacks

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