Why You Need to Encrypt
There are many reasons why you should protect the information you use on your computer including:
- Ensuring that your information remain confidential and only those who should access that information can
- Knowing that no one has been able to change your information and you can depend on its accuracy (information integrity)
- Making sure that your information is available when you need it by making back-up copies and if appropriate, storing the back-up copies off-site
In addition to the practical reasons noted above for keeping your information secure, there are State and Federal regulations in place that require you to secure your information. Some of these regulations include:
- HIPAA (Health Information Portability and Accountability Act) http://hipaa.stanford.edu
- California Privacy Act (SB1386) requiring that personal information (such as Social Security Number and bank account information) MUST be kept secure
Both of these laws encourage the use of encryption as a method for protecting your information. For Windows, we recommend that you use PGP (you can find more information here) and for Macs, we recommend that you create a secure encrypted disk image using the Disk Utility application, found in the Utilities folder. Additional information can be found on the Apple website: http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=107333.
One of the best ways to protect your information is to make sure that your computer is not vulnerable to attack from the outside. Here are some steps you can take:
- Keep your computer patches up to date. An easy way to accomplish this is through the use of BigFix, which is available to everyone at Stanford at no cost. You can download the BigFix agent at: http://ess.stanford.edu .
- Install anti-virus software and keep it up to date. This software is available to everyone at Stanford at no cost. You can obtain a copy of anti-virus software at http://ess.stanford.edu . Once you’ve installed the anti-virus software, set the software to automatically update once a day (this is known as virus definition update) so that you have the most current information to combat computer viruses.
- Install anti-spyware software that will make sure you do not have programs on your computer that can ‘steal’ your passwords and other important codes. You can obtain a copy of anti-spyware software at http://ess.stanford.edu . Once you’re installed the anti-spyware software, set the software to automatically update once a day so that you have the most current information to protect against spyware and Trojans.
- Remove all services from your computer that you do not need.
- Use SSH instead of Telnet.
- Use the Stanford website available on secure computing: http://www.stanford.edu/group/security/securecomputing/ .
If you are unsure about what you need to do, contact the IRT Service Desk at 5-8000 and the folks there will walk you through these and other steps for securing your computer.
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