As a further step to safeguard the University network from cyber-attacks, the Department of Information Technology and Networks (IT&N) has arranged to run a training programme to raise the level of awareness on the part of staff. This training is mainly for staff members that opened the testing emails that were sent by the department. The details of the training have been sent to those staff members.
“There will be prizes to be won at the end of each month for staff members who have completed their training,” Xaba said.
Xaba also added that in time, the training may be mandatory. IT&N’s Njabulo Xaba, who is responsible for the network’s security, said end users are the most vulnerable in the chain of network users. Xaba said on two occasions – May 2022 and February 2023 – that they sent out phishing messages to staff, testing their level of cyber security awareness. On both times, there were staff members who opened emails that they were not supposed to open.
“Staff members are reminded to stay cyber-smart on the MUT network, by paying attention to these kinds of emails, and report any malicious emails they receive to the IT&N service desk immediately,” Xaba said.