Cyber breaking and entering

Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority, Inc. helped enlighten students Monday in E. E. O'Banion Building during a seminar titled "Cyber Security Awareness."

Christa Molloy, project manager and information security officer, facilitated the program. Molloy stressed to students the importance of preserving personal information put on line. She said information such as date of birth, parents' names and location are extremely dangerous and may help hackers access much more personal information.

"Don't be scared, just be very cautious," said Molloy.

Molloy stressed that students limit the type of information that is posted on their social networking sites. Set your profiles to a high privacy setting and monitor who your friends are. Facebook applications are also very dangerous because they are not built by the makers of Facebook and they allow the creators to monitor what the user is doing on their computer and possibly take information off of the users' profile.

Molloy encouraged students to inform their parents as well about the importance of preserving their personal information.

Molloy said the same is true for those places where free Wi-Fi is offered. She stressed to students not to go to a business or hotel that offers the Internet without requiring authentication and looking through sites that include anything extremely personal such as your online banking.

It is important to protect your identity, because if stolen the thief could have access to your bank accounts, etc. Someone could actually live a separate life than you but get all of their funding for school from your social security number. They could open a bank account, have American citizen status, and have a job, etc., so it is important to be careful and aware.

One way of checking to make sure your identity is safe is to take advantage of the free credit report that is given annually.