Web safety with Chad Gilbeck

Every year, Viterbo sees new technology updates and software upgrades. Chad Gilbeck makes these transitions easier for everyone, and he is the go-to guy for all things tech. Gilbeck is the Help Desk Director at Viterbo in the Instructional and Information Technology Department, otherwise known as IIT.  

Over the last ten years online personal security has changed. According to Gilbeck, “There’s significantly more data about all of us out there in the world. Computing power is cheaper and virtualized, making it much easier to store and mine multiple sources of data to form a more complete picture of someone’s buying habits, banking, or additional information.  End-users are volunteering most of this information willingly through questionnaires or social engineering like meme’s asking for your mother’s maiden name, favorite color, high school you graduated from, etc.” Companies and people are collecting more information about us and becoming smarter about how they do it. 

The vast amount of information collected and offered by companies and people means that scammers will attempt to target universities and colleges. Viterbo is no exception, especially the student body being a large pond for phishers. Gilbeck found that “the biggest mistake is believing the ‘too good to be true’ job offer scams.  A great example of this is the ‘Dog Sitter’ email scam that came out last year.  Some students initially replied thinking it to be true and that they were interested.  IIT sent out a campus-warning and pulled the message. With that scam being global, it was slow to delete. In the meantime, we did get some calls from students genuinely thinking the scam had been real, to the point a couple even thought they’d been hired!  We are often asked, what would be the result if you were to follow through with the scam. The scammer would tell you that they need to deposit a small amount to your account (to test it) before they can hire you. Then they’d withdraw your entire bank account instead!  That’s the end result of these scams is they take your money! It pays to be cautious.”  

Students can be proactive in their own security outside of the steps taken by Gilbeck and the IIT department. One thing that Gilbeck noted is that students can have virus protection on their devices. “Keep a valid malware/virus scanner loaded, running and updated,” says Gilbeck. “Keep your computer/phone/network attached devices and software installed on it up to date with patches/updates.  There are plenty of “Free” virus programs out there, if a paid option isn’t something you want.” If you are unsure of what program to get or how to keep things updated Gilbeck encourages all to stop by or contact the help desk.  

Viterbo’s web security is on the lookout for scams and phishing emails in order to protect students and sensitive information. The IIT department can remove malicious items from circulation once they find or are notified about it. How students can help, according to Gilbeck, is to “Report any phishing scams. In Office365 you can right-click on a message and choose to ‘report’ and it goes directly to Microsoft. You can also email helpdesk@viterbo.edu and we can check it for you.  If ever in doubt, please let us know and we will happily check!”