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Five ways to stay cyber smart

Colleen Rich — Thu, 17 Oct 2024 13:03:01 +0000

Five ways to stay cyber smart Colleen Rich Thu, 10/17/2024 - 09:03

October is Cybersecurity Month and a good time to check up on the best ways to stay “cyber smart” across all the digital platforms in your life.

Be Phish-Aware. Do not click on suspicious links or share personal or financial information, such as Social Security numbers, or credit card or bank details in response to phish you may receive via email, phone call, or text. Common indicators of phishing include: language that asks you to act with urgency, spelling or grammar errors, or offers that seem too good to be true.
Use Unique and Strong Passphrases. Simple passwords can be guessed. Use passphrases with a mix of upper and lowercase letters and numbers/character substitutions that are not easy to guess. Do not reuse passwords for multiple services or share passwords with others. Remember, no reputable organization, including George Mason, will ask you for your password. If you suspect your password has been compromised, change it immediately. Use a password manager to help you set strong passwords and securely store them for later use.
Beware of Push-Bombing. A strong password is key, but you need more than a password to protect your personal data and accounts. Enabling multifactor authentication (MFA) decreases your chances of getting hacked. But, watch out: Attackers use “MFA fatigue” or push-bombing attacks, where the attacker sends numerous authentication requests until a user gives in and approves it. If you have not attempted to log into an application but are receiving authentication alerts, do not approve them. Instead, reset your password and contact the ITS Support Center or appropriate helpdesk for assistance.
Keep Software Updated. When devices, apps, or software programs (especially antivirus software) notify you that updates are available, install them as soon as possible. Updated software ensures you have the latest security patches and updates on your devices. Devices managed by George Mason receive updates automatically. For personal and non-George Mason managed devices and applications, it is important to install the updates in a timely manner.
Report Suspicious Activity. If you receive a suspicious email or are unsure if something is legitimate, connect with ITS before you click, open, or respond. Other than resetting your password immediately, do not attempt to remedy the situation on your own. ITS has trained specialists available to help and keep George Mason cyber safe.

Check out a list of ITS activities for Cybersecurity Awareness Month at George Mason.

ITS support is also now available 24/7. You can call 703-993-8870 or submit a request online.

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Faculty and Staff News

ITS

Five Things

Five Things to Know about George Mason’s Mobile CoffeeBots

Colleen Rich — Mon, 30 Sep 2024 16:36:06 +0000

Five Things to Know about George Mason’s Mobile CoffeeBots Colleen Rich Mon, 09/30/2024 - 12:36

Sometimes the most elegant solutions are the simplest, like using one waste product to eliminate another, such as used coffee grounds, called CoffeeBots, engineered in a ��AV laboratory.

From left to right: Jeff Moran, Amit Kumar Singh, and Tarini Basireddy pose with CoffeeBot samples.
Photo by Teresa Donnellan.

CoffeeBots can remove pollutants from seawater. By combining spent coffee grounds with iron oxide (rust), George Mason engineers have created CoffeeBots in the laboratory of College of Engineering and Computing professor Jeff Moran using the remains of Moran’s morning brew. Moran’s lab focuses on developing self-propelled microparticles for medical and environmental applications.
A CoffeeBot can move through water by using a magnet. Coffee grounds have an irregular, porous surface to which pollutants can bind, even with the much smaller iron oxide nanoparticles attached. Since iron oxide is magnetic, a simple handheld magnet can drive CoffeeBots through polluted water and remove them.
CoffeeBots are reusable. While using coffee grounds to clean up oil spills is not entirely new, this team is the first to show that mobile CoffeeBots outperform stationary ones since moving particles encounter more pollutant molecules. Making the coffee grounds magnetic has another benefit: Once the CoffeeBots are recovered, they can be reused several times before losing their efficacy.
Students discovered the use of coffee grounds. Postdoctoral research fellow Amit Kumar Singh in Moran’s lab originally proposed the project as a way for then-Thomas Jefferson High School student Tarini Basireddy to gain hands-on experience in the laboratory without having to interact with dangerous chemicals.
CoffeeBots can be used against three types of seawater pollutants: methylene blue, oil, and microplastics. The team found that the particles can be an effective solution for cleaning methylene blue, a carcinogenic dye commonly used in textile production, especially when they are first loaded with ascorbic acid, which helps break down the dye and render it nontoxic. And microplastics, like oil, cling to coffee grounds because they are hydrophobic.

Learn more about CoffeeBots

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College of Engineering and Computing

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Five Things to Know about George Mason’s First Space Mission

Colleen Rich — Thu, 29 Aug 2024 18:11:44 +0000

Five Things to Know about George Mason’s First Space Mission Colleen Rich Thu, 08/29/2024 - 14:11

Scientists know the universe is expanding, which is measured by calculating the brightness of numerous stars and by the number of photons-per-second they emit. But the next breakthroughs will require more accurate measurements, and that’s where George Mason is stepping in. The university is leading Landolt, a $19.5 million NASA space mission that will put an artificial “star” in orbit around Earth.

Here’s what’s to come:

Led by astronomy professor Peter Plavchan, faculty members and students from the College of Science and the College of Engineering and Computing will work together with staff from NASA, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), and nine other organizations on a first-of-its-kind project for a university in the Washington, D.C., area.
The artificial star will allow scientists to calibrate telescopes and more accurately measure the brightness of a wide range of stars—from those nearby to the distant explosions of supernovae in far-off galaxies. By establishing absolute flux calibration, the mission will begin to address several open challenges in astrophysics including the speed and acceleration of the universe’s expansion.
The mission is named for late astronomer Arlo Landolt, who compiled the widely used catalogs of stellar brightness through the 1990s.
The payload, which is the size of a proverbial bread box, will be built in partnership with NIST, a world leader in measuring photon emissions. “This calibration under known laser wavelength and power will remove effects of atmosphere filtration of light and allow scientists to significantly improve measurements,” says electrical engineering professor Piotr Pachowicz, who is leading this component of the mission.
The artificial star, expected to launch in 2029, will orbit 22,236 miles above Earth, far enough away to look like a real star to telescopes back on the ground. This orbit also allows the star to move at the same speed as the Earth’s rotation, keeping it in place over the United States during its first year in space. “This is what is considered an infrastructure mission for NASA, supporting the science in a way that we’ve known we needed to do but with a transformative change in how we do it,” says Plavchan.

"This mission marks another first for George Mason, a milestone that proves our impact as a major public research university that truly knows no bounds,” says President Gregory Washington.

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Five ways to stay cyber smart

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Five Things to Know about George Mason’s Mobile CoffeeBots

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Five Things to Know about George Mason’s First Space Mission

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