Join 600 of your UC Davis colleagues and make your online life safer

As of November 30, more than 600 faculty and staff at UC Davis have completed a short, online University of California course that shows them how to protect Social Security numbers, bank and health account data, and other sensitive information stored in computers.

"That is a good start," said campus IT Security Coordinator Robert Ono. "I would like to see it higher. Let'\031s work together to reach at least 1,000 course registrants."

The course offers practical ways to help protect your computers and data from misuse.

"Protecting your electronic data is at least as important as protecting your home or car from break-ins," Ono said.

The Information Security Awareness course, designed for non-technologists, presents best security practices for preventing compromises of sensitive personal and university data. Completing the course takes about 30 to 40 minutes.

To promote the training, the UC Office of the President is offering four $50 gift cards per month through December. A random drawing each month awards the cards to faculty or staff who finish the tutorial. Any who do not win are automatically entered in subsequent drawings. The final drawing will occur in early January.

The 16 gift card recipients since the incentive began in August range from an accountant in Accounting & Financial Services and a biosafety officer in Environmental Health and Safety to a teaching assistant in Human Development and a professor in the School of Veterinary Medicine.

The course is available in the UC Learning Management System; search for "Information Security Awareness" (code DAC-TT0900). The LMS will record your name for the drawings.

The course will remain available in 2013, but the extra gift-card incentive ends this year.