LISNews: Librarian News

This is part Eight in my many part series on IT Security In Libraries.
In Part 7 I listed many lists full of practical advice that covered just about everything dealing with IT security in libraries.
Part Six was really the first part of this post. I dealt with security in libraries, mostly theory, while this post is more practical, and is mostly lists.
In part 5 I covered 20 Common Security Myths, and how to defeat them.
Part 4 was a general "How To Stay Safe Online" post that covered topics like patching/updating, watching links and downloads, and using good passwords.
In Part Three I covered passwords.
In part 2 we talked privacy.
In Part One I tried to lay the foundation for security.

Libraries and librarians are fully embracing social media sites like Twitter, LinkedIN and Facebook. Our libraries use them to connect with and engage our patrons, increase library visibility and communicate information. We each use them to connect with old friends, sell ourselves, stay up to date with the world around us, and keep in touch with family. There are serious security risks involved with most social sites that can be avoided by following some very simple rules. The bad guys are finding it very easy to use these sites to cause trouble. Scammers, stalkers, phishers, spammers, hackers and every other kind of evil doer on the internet are finding new ways to get into our social networks every day. They are using links to spread malware and spam, and they're always one step ahead. They're using it to fill social media sites with evil, e.g. chat bots, captcha crackers, malware, spam, control botnets, blackhat SEO, etc… -- Read More

This is part Six in my many part series on IT Security In Libraries.
In part 5 I covered 20 Common Security Myths, and how to defeat them.
Part 4 was a general "How To Stay Safe Online" post that covered topics like patching/updating, watching links and downloads, and using good passwords.
In Part Three I covered passwords.
In part 2 we talked privacy.
In Part One I tried to lay the foundation for security.

Today's post is long on theory. I'll argue that most any library can be a target, and present some ideas on how to make things more secure in your library. -- Read More

This is part four in my many part series on IT Security In Libraries. In Part Three I covered passwords. In part 2 we talked privacy. In Part One I tried to lay the foundation for security.

Today's post is a big bunch of tips (in convenient list form) on how to keep yourself safe while surfing the web. A bundle of easy practical tips you can take anywhere to make your computers safer. This is a pretty long list that can be boiled down to three important bullet points: -- Read More

• Keep everything patched and updated
• Never trust anything
• Use good passwords

This is Part Two in my many part series on IT Security In Libraries. In Part One I tried to lay the foundation for security. This week we'll talk privacy, and up next will be a general "Staying Safe Online" that will cover a million and one tips on how to keep you and your computer safe.

Privacy is a relative term. That is, the things that I consider important to my privacy, someone else might not care about. As librarians we usually key in on Confidentiality Threats. We want our patrons records safe. We also don't share that information with ANYONE else. In general, we are fierce about protecting our patrons’ privacy. This is something that has always set us apart from everyone else. Amazon won't do it. Google won't do it. Do I even need to say Facebook won't do it? People who come into the library or use our web sites don't worry about what's going to happen with their information (or at least they shouldn't need worry about it). They should know we are doing our best to guard their privacy. Keeping all our IT resources secure should be a large part of guarding that privacy.

There are no big events, dead bodies or explosions in privacy violations. It's something that is slowly eroding over time. The troubles are more subtle and are caused by errors, or intential misues and a shocking lack of transparency, accountability and security. We don't think about privacy much, we only think about it when things are going wrong. Most people tend to think privacy isn't very important, and don't give it a second thought. Most companies make money by keeping our information as free as possible so it can be used, shared, and sold.

Let’s start this section with some general arguments FOR privacy, some reasons why privacy is so highly valued in our profession: -- Read More