Securing Your Computer

It is very important that all members of the Mason community take responsibility for computer security. See The Best Free Antivirus Protection for 2022 from PC Magazine for recommendations. For Mac users, PC Magazine has published this article: The Best Mac Antivirus Protection for 2022. The University's IT department recommends the following anti-virus software for personal computers: Windows: Avast, AVG, Sophos, Microsoft Defender Antivirus; Mac: Avast, AVG, Sophos.

To protect Mason email accounts from spam and malicious content, the university provides the IronPort spam filter. IronPort automatically filters all email messages. You can access your quarantined items by going to Mason's IronPort Spam Quarantine. In addition, you will receive a daily email from IronPort with a list of suspicious messages that have been quarantined. If you find any legitimate messages in the list, you can release them to your inbox. For more information, see How to Work with Messages in IronPort Anti-Spam.

Even though access to the wired and wireless networks requires a login using a Mason email account, the networks themselves are not encrypted. So, it's important that every individual learn how to secure their computers and avoid fraudulent websites. In addition, every so often a "phishing" e-mail gets through the spam filter disguised as message soliciting private information like a password, date of birth, or PIN number. You should never respond to these emails as no legitimate organization (particularly the university) would solicit this sort of information through e-mail. In order to learn more about how to protect your computer, please take a look at the links below. If you have any questions, contact lawsupport@gmu.edu or 703-993-4855.

Important Links

 *Phishing is a term used by hackers who imitate legitimate companies and organizations in e-mails to entice users to share passwords, Social Security numbers, credit card or bank account numbers.