INSIDE GGC

Information Technology (IT) is committed to supporting your essential GGC activities and reducing the risk of cyberattacks that could compromise our systems and data.

As shared at the spring campus update, some threat actors target higher education and have successfully attacked multiple University System of Georgia (USG) campuses. These cyberattacks resulted in data exposure and lost productivity for faculty, staff, and students. Additionally, these campuses had to make substantial investments in incident response services to remove all traces of the attacks from their systems.

IT will be implementing additional safeguards in alignment with USG endpoint security requirements published in the USG IT Handbook.

User-level computer access standard

To reduce security risks, we are adopting user-level access as our computer access standard for all desktops, laptops and other endpoint devices starting this spring. Limiting use of elevated access significantly reduces the risk of system compromise. When an account with elevated access is compromised, threat actors gain elevated access to our systems and data. In recent cybersecurity incidents at USG campuses, overprovisioned accounts allowed attackers to gain extensive unauthorized access to critical systems and data.

For most faculty and staff, user-level access will support all essentials tasks such as accessing files, printing, browsing the web and using software applications. If elevated access is needed occasionally, for example, to install specific software, please send your request to the Helpdesk. Most requests will be addressed in 1–5 business days. Software that is part of our computer image automatically receives patches and updates, and site-licensed software is available for self-installation via Software Center.

For those who need elevated access periodically

Faculty and staff who periodically need elevated access may contact the Helpdesk for a consultation, and IT will provide a customized solution to meet your needs. User-level access should always be used to perform tasks that do not require elevated access.

Thank you for doing your part to secure our essential systems and data! 

If you have any questions, please contact the GGC Helpdesk at:  

• Web: http://helpdesk.ggc.edu  
• Email: @email  
• Phone: 678.407.5611