UVic Defenders
Protecting the university’s electronic information, information systems and infrastructure is a responsibility shared by all members of the university community. The Information Security Office would like to recognize the efforts of members of the university community who make a meaningful or extraordinary contribution to detecting or preventing information security-related issues. Those recognized are designated “UVic Defenders”, and provided a token of appreciation (a mug!) for their efforts.
The intent is to encourage and reward users for recognizing security risks and reporting them to the Information Security Office. It is meant to reinforce positive behaviour and celebrate users who do the right thing. This will ideally engage users more, encouraging them to be more aware of information security risks and their responsibility. In turn, this will reduce risk of compromise or data breach to the University. While this initiative is primarily aimed at staff and faculty, students are eligible as well.
Here are some examples of criteria that can be used to nominate or qualify a UVic Defender:
- Reporting a single phish that may have been specifically targeted (spear phish).
- Reporting a single phish leads to discovery of a larger phishing campaign, gift card scam, malware.
- Regularly and routinely reporting phishing emails and scams.
- Staff who have taken extraordinary effort to patch a critical vulnerability in a timely fashion.
- A staff member or student who discovers a significant vulnerability in a UVic system or service.
- A staff member who advocates for good security practices amongst colleagues.
- Enrolling in multi-factor authentication and getting others to do so as well.
If you have any questions, or would like to nominate someone as a UVic Defender, please email infosec@uvic.ca.
