October is National Cybersecurity Awareness Month and Curtis Coleman is working to make sure Oklahoma Christian University students are prepared and informed when it comes to online security. Coleman, Oklahoma Christian’s head of its new cybersecurity program, plans to create a website aimed at raising students’ awareness of current threats online.
“I started thinking about this several weeks ago when people were asking me questions that were normal security questions,” Coleman said. “On a larger scale, more people are going to be asking questions like that. The best way to get that out there is to probably have some sort of blog.”
Coleman said he wants his website to feature tips and instructions on keeping passwords and personal information safe, as well as update readers on ongoing scams, staying safe online at work and finding a career in the cybersecurity field.
“Once it gets started, what I’d like to do is almost like blogging, where people can ask questions and I can answer those and guide us as a community,” Coleman said.
Part of Coleman’s passion for the website stems from college students increasingly becoming targets for online frauds and scams.
“They’re going to be vulnerable to certain kinds of cons and scams on the internet that maybe other groups would not be susceptible to,” Coleman said. “If it does happen to you, what do you do?”
Mitchell Jones, a junior computer engineering major who works at Support Central, said even something as simple as running a virus scanning program every so often can help keep students safe online.
“Because people just don’t ever run one, we get computers that have thousands of viruses,” Jones said.
Jonathan Troyer, a senior computer science major, believes college students are at risk online because they have become so comfortable with using the internet.
“College students are much more likely to buy things online,” Troyer said. “And when you’re more likely to buy things online, you’re more likely to buy things online from lesser-known sources.”
These lesser-known sources could easily be insecure websites allowing viruses and other fraudulent programs onto personal computers, according to Troyer.
In addition to viruses, Coleman said he also warns students of another internet-based attack against college-aged individuals: cyber-stalking.
“The number one crime against college students is cyber-stalking,” Coleman said. “How do you protect yourself against that, and how do you recognize when it’s happening?”
Sam Houston University in Texas conducted a study in 2014, which sought to answer how stalking affected college students in relation to the general population. Their results showed college students were twice as likely to be a victim of stalking, whether in-person or online.
Being aware of the risks specifically targeted toward each age group, recognizing the signs of those risks and knowing what to do when something happens are all steps to take to become a secure individual online, Coleman said. Coleman’s website featuring this information is expected to launch later this month.
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