Annual Training

NIU employees are required to participate in annual security training to be compliant with state and federal regulations as well as university policies. NIU contracts with KnowBe4 to provide online training modules that cover a wide range of security issues and practices - all geared towards helping NIU operate securely.

Required

• Civil service
• Supportive professional staff
• Faculty and Instructors
• Employees on sabbaticals and educational leaves
• Extra Help and Temporary Employees

Not Required

• Student employees, graduate assistants and teaching assistants
• Employees on unpaid leave
• Employees on FMLA and disability during the training period

Training for New Hires

As part of onboarding to NIU, within three months of their start date, new civil service employees, supportive professional staff and faculty will be required to complete online training to learn about safe technology practices at NIU. The training consists of two parts:

• NIU information security policies: reviews acceptable use policies at NIU. Accessed through Blackboard, this online course will take approximately one hour to complete.
• Cybersecurity awareness: reviews a wide range of security issues and practices - all geared towards helping NIU operate securely. This includes 60-90 minutes of online, on-demand videos with short quizzes.

More Information

• Students, student employees, adjunct faculty and instructors are not licensed to take the online training course. For free resources, please refer to the CyberSecurity Awareness tips, the SANS Institute, the EDUCAUSE CyberSecurity Program or Stay Safe Online.
• Training assignments will be sent to your NIU email address from SecurityAwareness@niu.edu.
• For more information about safe technology use at NIU, please visit the Information Security page.

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