Engage! Creating a Meaningful Security Awareness Program (Updated)
7/12/12 Updated with seminar slides! Engage! Creating a Meaningful Security Awareness Program View more PowerPoint from Ben Woelk This may start quite the discussion, but it’s a viable argument that...
View ArticleSave the date! Bulletproofing Your Career Online live webinar 8/2, 4-5 pm EDT
Hannah Morgan and I will be presenting Bulletproofing Your Career Online as an STC webinar on Thursday, 2 August | 4:00–5:00 PM EDT (GMT-4) What are the 10 key steps to building and securing your...
View ArticleA Lightning Fast Introduction to Digital Self Defense
Each year at the Rochester Institute of Technology we introduce the concepts of Digital Self Defense to incoming students. We’ve tried a variety of presentation types and venues, ranging from several...
View ArticleDigital Self Defense for Incoming Students at RIT Presentation
We had a great time presenting to our 2800-person incoming class at the Rochester Institute of Technology. Here’s the YouTube video of the five presentations (Hannah Morgan, Dawn Soufleris, Nick...
View ArticleAmazing Mind Reader Security Awareness Video
One of our student workers at the RIT Information Security Office shared this security awareness video from YouTube. What do you think of it? … Continue reading →
View ArticleFacebook Security Audit
A friend shared this post by Ian Anderson Gray today. I think the information is pretty worthwhile. What do you think? … Continue reading →
View ArticleSimplifying Password Complexity
Let’s be honest. Passwords are a pain. We all know that it’s important to have different passwords for different places and we all know that they need to be fairly complex. We also know that...
View ArticleRIT InfoSec Awareness: an Interview With Ben Woelk
RIT InfoSec Awareness an Interview With Ben Woelk. Read my interview with RIT alumnus Neil DuPaul on the Veracode Blog where we discuss how we’re increasing information security awareness at the...
View ArticleInfosec Strategies: Creating Centralized Efficiencies in a Decentralized IT...
My thoughts on one of the challenges facing infosec offices in higher education. It reflects my thoughts, and not necessarily those of my employer. The institutional challenge of creating centralized...
View ArticleGuide Dogs and Information Security: Raising Them to Enable
My thoughts on another challenge facing infosec offices in higher education. It reflects my thoughts, and not necessarily those of my employer. We had the privilege of being puppy raisers for Guiding...
View ArticleCovert Affairs Gets It (mostly) Right
When television and movies use information security as their storyline, they typically pass up accuracy for the sake of drama. I was pleasantly surprised when a recent episode of Covert Affairs...
View ArticleDeveloping a Security Mindset
the goal of the module is to reorient students' thinking from the features of a product and how those features are supposed to be used to thinking about how someone might "hack" the product. In other...
View ArticleDigital Self Defense Workshop 101 (RRLC)
I had the pleasure of presenting the following presentation to the Rochester Regional Library Council on Oct. 25th. It contains general Internet and computer safety tips and is slightly modified from a...
View ArticleCall for Proposals, Spectrum 2011 (April 1, 2011)
Spectrum 2011 – Building Better Solutions: A Skills Symposium Rochester Chapter, Society for Technical Communication (STC) Submittal deadline: December 17, 2010 You and your colleagues are invited to...
View ArticleTop Ten Ways to Shockproof Your Use of Social Media
How do you stay safe online? Here are ten ways to shockproof your use of social media: Tip #1: Use strong passwords Tip #2: Keep your computer patched and updated Tip #3: Use appropriate security...
View ArticleWhy Professional Conferences Matter
I’ve heard a lot of discussion recently that professional conferences aren’t needed anymore because of the inter-connectivity afforded by the Internet. Why is it reasonable to spend hundreds or even a...
View ArticleTechnical Communicator 419 Scheme
The STC Europe SIG has a great parody post today on a Nigerian 419 scheme with a twist: They want access to your bank account to impose penalties for not turning the writing/editing assignments around...
View ArticleIrony
I received the following notification today: DHS Announces the Release of New Training Course Workplace Security Awareness No-Cost Critical Infrastructure Workplace Security Training The Department of...
View ArticleApps for Integrating Mobile Devices into Classroom Use and Campus Communications
How many of you are integrating mobile devices into classroom work? In addition to my role as Policy and Awareness Analyst, I teach a couple of classes, Cyber Self Defense and Effective Technical...
View ArticleMobile Devices: Paradigm Shift or Just Another Content Delivery Mechanism?
I’m curious about whether you think the integration of mobile devices into curricula is a “game changer/paradigm shift” or whether you regard it as just another content delivery mechanism. As a...
View ArticleSecure Mobile-an Oxymoron? (Redux)
Responses to the #1 topic on IdeaScale, “Consumers dictate device usage, not IT,” indicate that MANY of you believe consumers will drive smartphone adoption in Higher Education, while the sentiment...
View ArticleDigital Self Defense for Technical Communicators, Part One
Digital Self Defense for Technical Communicators was first published in the Society for Technical Communication‘s Intercom magazine in November 2010. I’ll be reproducing the article in several parts...
View ArticleDigital Self Defense for Technical Communicators, Part Two
Digital Self Defense for Technical Communicators was first published in the Society for Technical Communication‘s Intercom magazine in November 2010. Best Practices for Safer Social Networking...
View ArticleDigital Self Defense for Technical Communicators, Part Three
Digital Self Defense for Technical Communicators was first published in the Society for Technical Communication‘s Intercom magazine in November 2010. How We’ve Communicated These Concepts at RIT Higher...
View ArticleCommunications Liftoff! Rocketing Your Community to the Stars
Society for Technical Communication Summit Conference Leadership Day Presentation, May 15, 2011 Join the discussion on MySTC at https://ow.ly/51WfG Communications liftoff! rocketing your community...
View ArticleTwitter Use at #STC11 Summit
Last year, I kicked off this blog by posting about Twitter Use at the #STC10 Summit in Dallas. I thought it would be interesting to look at Twitter use at #STC11 as well. Methodology I’ve only analyzed...
View ArticleTen Ways to Shockproof Your Use of Social Networking Lightning Talk
I had the privilege of presenting my 25-minute presentation on Shockproofing Your Use of Social Media as a five-minute Lightning Talk at the STC Summit in Sacramento on May 18th. Lightning talks...
View ArticleHow Much Does Facebook Know About You? The Two Facebook Dogs Revisited
I attended RIT’s Faculty Institute for Teaching and Learning this week. Mark Greenfield, SUNY Buffalo, delivered a keynote on “Born to be Wired: Technology, Communication, and the Millennial...
View ArticleUnpacking My Takeaways from #STC11
It’s been a little less than two weeks since the Society for Technical Communication Summit in Sacramento ended. Summit was an intensive four day immersion in the multifaceted profession of technical...
View ArticleParenting in the Cyber Age: A Parents’ Guide to Safer Social Networking
Are you as a parent worried about what your kids may encounter online? Are you unsure of how they or you can stay safe online when using social networking sites? Although our kids are now college...
View ArticleAvoiding Phishing
What’s the easiest way to break into a computer account? Cracking the password? Putting a trojan on the computer? Hacking? Unfortunately, it’s simply tricking you into giving up your password through a...
View ArticleChoosing the Safest Browser, Part 2
Safe Practices Check your Browser Security Settings How can you tell how secure your web browser may be? Scanit’s Browser Security Test checks your browser security settings and provides a report...
View ArticleUpdated: Choosing the Safest Browser, Part One
This post provides an update to last year’s Choosing the Safest Browser post. Let’s take a look at what’s changed since June 2010. Browsers Last year, we looked at the following browsers to discuss...
View ArticleTop Ten Tips for Safe(r) Social Networking
Did you know you’re a target every time you go online? Did you know that cyber criminals are targeting social networking sites? Do you know how to recognize a phishing attempt? Following these tips...
View ArticleAnnouncing the RIT Cyber Self Defense Student Blog
I teach a section of Cyber Self Defense, a security awareness course at the Rochester Institute of Technology. We always have a number of interesting discussions about current infosec issues. I believe...
View ArticleMaking Information Security Fun
I shared this presentation at the October program meeting of the Rochester Chapter of the Society for Technical Communication. The presentation demonstrates how the Information Security Office at the...
View ArticleUpdated: 2012 Speaking Schedule, January through June
I’ll be speaking at the following events this winter and spring. Watch for my presentation materials on SlideShare. January 9: HEISC (Higher Education Information Security Council), Town Hall....
View ArticleAvoiding the Botnet Snare
“Why would anyone attack my computer? I don’t have anything of value on it.” Is this your mindset? Although the goal of many attacks may be identity theft or financial gain, there are other reasons for...
View ArticleUpdated: 2012 Speaking Schedule, January through June
Updated 4/4/12 The post Updated: 2012 Speaking Schedule, January through June appeared first on BenWoelk.com.
View ArticleScholarship : … Technical Editing SIG, a special interest group of the...
https://www.stc-techedit.org/Scholarship The post Scholarship : … Technical Editing SIG, a special interest group of the Society for Technical Communication (STC) appeared first on BenWoelk.com.
View ArticleBullet Proofing Your Career Online, Spectrum 2012
The brilliant Hannah Morgan and I presented Bullet Proofing Your Career Online at the STC Rochester Spectrum Conference. We’ll be presenting again at the STC Technical Communications Summit in...
View ArticleNaked Security–Dirty Tricks with Android Apps
https://nakedsecurity.sophos.com/2012/04/26/dirty-tricks-android-apps/?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=status+message&utm_campaign=naked+security The post Naked Security–Dirty Tricks with...
View ArticleRIT Hosts Annual Spectrum Conference – YNN, Your News Now
RIT Hosts Annual Spectrum Conference – YNN, Your News Now. The post RIT Hosts Annual Spectrum Conference – YNN, Your News Now appeared first on BenWoelk.com.
View ArticleInformationWeek Mobile Edition – 9 Tips To Block Hotel Wi-Fi Malware
We often take for granted (or don’t even think about) the security of hotel Wi-Fi as we travel. For most of us, the convenience outweighs the risk. There are steps we can take to keep our computers and...
View ArticleTwitter Use at #STC12 Summit
For the two year anniversary of this blog, we’ll review Twitter use at the STC Summit conference. Twitter use among attendees continues to grow dramatically. Although this post only looks at tweets...
View ArticleBridge Building: Establishing Communications Processes
This past fall we had the privilege of visiting Pont du Gard, a Roman bridge and aqueduct in Languedoc in the south of France. Although built primarily without mortar (except for the top course of...
View ArticlePassword Strength Comic
This would fit right into my Ten Tips to Shockproof Your Use of Social Media Lightning Talk, except that it probably takes more than 15 seconds to read. Courtesy of XKCD Which of these passwords...
View ArticleBulletproofing Your Career Online—Ben Woelk & Hannah Morgan
Jamie Gillenwater’s review of @careersherpa’s and @benwoelk’s presentation at #stc12 in May. The post Bulletproofing Your Career Online—Ben Woelk & Hannah Morgan appeared first on BenWoelk.com.
View ArticleCongratulations! Congratulations!! Congratulations!!! You are a Winner in the...
I received the email above today. Should I provide the information requested so I can start the process to claim my £500,000.00 GBR prize? Did...
View ArticleA review of Petrilli, The Introvert’s Guide to Success in Business and...
Reading this book as an introverted leader, I’m encouraged to see that Lisa recommends and extends many of the same techniques I’ve found essential. I found that meeting individually with members of my...
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