Students

In 2014 alone, more than 200 million personal records have been stolen or accessed through online data breaches.

State of Colorado – 18,800 employee records stolen
University of South Carolina – 6300 student records leaked
University of Maryland – 309,000 records stolen
Maricopa Community College – 2.4 million records stolen
Indiana University – 146,000 student records stolen
Target – 110 million credit card numbers, 140 million personal records stolen

As insecure as passwords generally are, they’re not going away anytime soon. Every year you have more and more passwords to deal with, and every year they get easier and easier to break. SVA Administrative and Network Services urges all College community members to follow the guidelines below when creating their MySVA password.

PASSWORD COMPLEXITY

Strong passwords are required for all SVA-issued accounts. All passwords, including initial/temporary passwords, should be a minimum length of eight characters and include at least three of the following characteristics (using all four is encouraged):

• At least one numeric character (0-9)
• At least one lowercase letter (a-z)
• At least one uppercase letter (A-Z)
• At least one non-alphanumeric character (~, !, @, #, $, %, ^, &, *, (, ), -, =, +, ?, [, ], {, })

STRONG PASSWORDS

When constructing a password, remembering these guidelines can increase its strength:

• Do not use words in any language that are slang, dialect, jargon, etc.
• Do not use personal information such as names (relatives, pets, etc.), or dates such as birthdays or anniversaries.
• Do not use words, phrases, or acronyms associated with the College (e.g., “sva” or “VASA”)
• Do not use computer terms, commands, sites, or software applications (e.g., “portal,” “mobile,” “web,” “mail,” “email,” “mysva”)
• Do not use word or number patterns (e.g., “aaabbb,” “qwerty,” “zyxwvuts,” “123321,″ “abc123,″ etc.)
• Do not increment previous passwords by prepending/appending additional characters (“password1″, “1password”, etc.)

PASSWORD CHANGE FREQUENCY

Regularly changing passwords is a sound security principle that adds to the overall security of SVA’s IT resources and systems. Depending on the classification of information, particular passwords should be set to expire at regular intervals. Passwords for newly activated accounts must be changed on first use.

PROTECTION OF PASSWORDS

All passwords must comply with the following:

• Default passwords must be changed to conform to this best practice prior to deployment of all software applications, systems and other IT devices on the SVA network.
• System administrators must validate the identity of the user prior to performing a password reset on the user’s account.
• Users must never share or reveal passwords with or to anyone (e.g., supervisor, a spouse, child, or secretary). Shared accounts are thus prohibited.
• Passwords must not be displayed, stored, or transmitted in plain text (e.g., authentication requests, unencrypted protocols, batch files, automatic log-in scripts, software macros, terminal function keys, devices without access control).
• Passwords must not be stored in any location where unauthorized individuals might discover or obtain them.
• If a user suspects their account has been compromised, the password on that account or system and all other accounts or systems using that same password must be changed immediately.

Other “Do Not’s” include:

• Do not reveal a password to ANYONE
• Do not reveal a password in an email message
• Do not talk about a password in front of others
• Do not hint at the format of a password (e.g., “my family name”)
• Do not reveal a password on questionnaires or security forms
• Do not share a password with family members
• Do not reveal a password to co-workers while on vacation
• Do not write down your password and store it in plain view or in any other insecure location
• Do not store passwords in a file on ANY computer system without encrypting the file

As a general rule, there are no legitimate reasons that a password should be revealed by any method to any person. The only notable exception to this rule is a situation where a user is being assisted in person by a known and trusted SVA IT support technician. After assistance has been rendered, the user should immediately change the shared password. Social engineering attacks generally rely on a user’s trust of IT support personnel to obtain passwords.Do you think your password is strong enough? How long would it take a hacker to crack your password?

The School of Visual Arts is committed to the safety and security of all members of the College community. In accordance with the federal Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Campus Security Policy and Campus Crime Statistics Act of 1998, the SVA Annual Security Report and Fire Safety Report for this year are now available. These reports contain statistics and institutional policies concerning fire safety, as well as information on campus security issues such as sexual assault and other matters.

Copies of both reports can be found on sva.edu.

If you have questions regarding this information, please contact SVA Institutional Research at 212.592.2829. 

Jerold L. Davis

Director of Institutional Research

Squarespace—a website building and hosting company that provides user-friendly templates, free custom domain names, automatic formatting for mobile devices, round-the-clock support, and more—is offering all SVA students a 50% discount on their first year of service.  To take advantage of this offer, go to http://squarespace.com/sva and sign up for an account using your SVA email address.

To receive Term Honors, a student must be a matriculated undergraduate student who has completed 12 credits of coursework, without any grades of incomplete, and whose semester grade point average is within the top 20% of all students in their major department. Students whose semester grade point average is within the top 5% of all students in their major department will receive High Term Honors.

Preparation is key to knowing what to do in an emergency situation. Watch this important video to learn about SVA’s emergency resources and response procedures.

The following are helpful guides to emergency preparation and procedures.

Emergency Response Guidelines
Emergency Numbers Wallet Card

NJ Transit Sign-Up (Click the link NJ Transit Discount)
Get On Board With A 25% Discount For NJ TRANSIT Mobile Student Monthly Passes

Full-time undergraduate and graduate students are eligible to purchase a rail, bus, or light rail
mobile student monthly pass at 25% off the regular monthly pass price, when they enroll online
through NJ TRANSIT Mobile Student program.

New to Mobile Student Program?
Getting started or re-enrolling is easy.
1. Go to the SVA NJ Transit Sign-Up
2. Enter your student ID number and press “submit”
3. Fill in all required fields on the registration form
4. Verify your student email address.
5. Download the NJ TRANSIT App and buy your Mobile MyTix Student Monthly Pass.

After you sign up, the discounted student pass can be purchased directly from the
NJ TRANSIT mobile app. Passes may be purchased from the 19th of the preceding month through
the 10th of the month that the pass is valid.

Mobile passes offer the convenience of purchasing and displaying your student monthly pass on
your mobile device. No need to pre-pay or wait for a paper ticket in the mail. Buy at your
leisure.

It’s important to remember:
• Download the NJ TRANSIT app
• Open the app and tap BUY
• Sign in with your .edu email and password
• Select a Student Monthly pass and pay for it in the app
• Monthly passes are available for purchase from the 19th of the previous month
through the 10th of the month the pass is valid
• On the 1st of the month your student pass will display in the app

Students who participate in this program agree that the monthly pass is for their exclusive use only. Each student is eligible to receive one discounted monthly pass per month. Passes are non-transferable. Any abuse or purposeful deception will result in the cancellation of the student’s monthly pass account, and they will be unable to participate in the program in the future. This will also apply to any other student who is knowingly involved.
Sign Up for your NJ TRANSIT Mobile pass today!