Cyber Security Awareness

Cyber Security Awareness

We live in a connected world—our phones, laptops, and even home devices link to the internet every day. Staying secure online helps protect your personal and college data.

Stay Safe Online

  • Keep your computer and mobile devices updated.
  • Use anti-virus software and install system updates regularly.
  • Create strong, unique passwords and never share them.
  • Be cautious with public Wi-Fi—avoid logging into sensitive accounts.
  • Lock your devices and review app permissions.
  • Turn off location sharing unless needed.

Watch Out for Scams

  • Phishing: Fake emails or links that look legitimate.
  • Imposter Scams: Messages claiming you’ve won or owe money.
  • Identity Theft: Someone using your personal info for financial gain.

Click here to find out how you can recover from identity fraud.

Zoom and Virtual Meeting Safety

  • Use meeting passwords and waiting rooms.
  • Don’t post meeting links publicly.
  • Remove unwanted participants right away.

Keep the following in mind:

  1. In Zoom “Meetings”, all participants can potentially display their video and audio; there is no way to “mute all” or “stop video” for all participants
  2. If you want to ensure no participants can “share” their screen, etc. then make sure to restrict “Who Can Share?” to the Host only (Note: this doesn’t prevent them from doing something in their own video, it only prevents them from sharing with all the other participants in the main meeting window)
  3. If you are planning to have an online Broadcast event (e.g. town hall, guest speaker series, etc.), you should use the Webinar feature instead of a Meeting. The Webinar automatically blocks video/audio for any attendee who is not a pre-approved Panelist/speaker. If you need access to this feature for an event, please contact the IT Service Desk at 718-518-6646 or submit a ticket at least 2 weeks prior to your planned event and do not send any Zoom meeting links until your access has been confirmed.

What to do if you have an undesirable participant or content?

  1. Take a screenshot of the behavior/participant name and send it to IT Service Desk and, if offensive/dangerous, include publicsafety@hostos.cuny.edu
  2. You can “Dismiss” (REMOVE) that participant from the meeting, or SUSPEND PARTICIPANT ACTIVITIES – these can all be accomplished by right-clicking on the attendees name/video
    1. You can also put a participant “On Hold” essentially suspending their audio/video – but this is only available if you do NOT have the Waiting Room enabled
  3. If the link was publicly shared, and the undesired participants try to connect with alternate ID’s, you may need to END (stop) the meeting, create a new meeting link and share with the desired attendees
Useful Links