FAQ
Find answers to frequently asked questions about
Digital certificates
A digital certificate, such as the one used at the University of Wuppertal, confirms your identity and other properties of a public key. The certificate makes it possible to protect the confidentiality and integrity of information.
For example, you can use the digital certificate to sign and encrypt your emails. Please note that encryption is only possible if the recipient also uses a digital certificate (S/MIME).
If you use a digital certificate, your communication partners can easily distinguish your genuine emails from phishing emails. Managers in particular should apply for and set up a digital certificate as soon as possible.
Digital certificate users can also exchange confidential information in an encrypted form (S/MIME), without unauthorised third parties being able to read it.
The University of Wuppertal uses the German National Research and Education Network (DFN) certificate facility for its employees.
ZIM provides instructions with screenshots on how to register for a personal user certificate (in German). To install a certificate on at least one Apple device, select Algorithm: Compatible TripleDES-SHA1 in the final step.
If you need a certificate for a functional mailbox or an email alias, please feel free to contact zimpki[at]uni-wuppertal.de.
If you share the functional mailbox with others, it is not only necessary, but also the wisest thing to do, to use a single certificate for the mailbox. This is because encrypted messages can only be read by all parties with the same certificate. If each person used their own certificate, it would not be possible to open each other's encrypted messages. It would also be unclear who had access to which messages.
You could, for example, store the certificate on a shared drive and give the password for the certificate to your colleagues on a separate basis. This ensures that all authorised people have access to the encrypted messages and that the functional mailbox can be used efficiently.
ZIM provides installation instructions (in German) for Apple Mail, Mozilla Thunderbird and Microsoft Outlook. Please note that it is not possible to use the certificates in the web interface wingate.
If you have multiple accounts integrated with your email client, you will need to have a separate certificate for each account and install it in your email client.
This will enable your email client to associate the correct certificate with each sender address.
For security reasons, digital certificates are only valid for a limited period of time. Please apply for a new certificate in a reasonable time.
Important: Please keep your old certificates in a safe place, such as your operating system's certificate store. This will allow you to read older encrypted emails if necessary. Without a certificate, you will not be able to access the content of messages encrypted with this certificate!
Password security
The first rule is to choose a unique password for each service you use.
Whether a password is secure or not depends on the length and complexity of the password you choose. Basically, you can either choose a short and complex password (8-12 characters, 4 character types) or a long and less complex password (at least 20, better 25 characters, 2 character types).
In the case of a long password, you can, for example, combine several words with hyphens. Or think of a nonsense phrase that you can easily remember and replace the spaces with hyphens.
For example: The-blue-dog-studies-Spanish
Be careful! Do not choose published examples! Only use words that have no personal connection to you.
To help you keep track of your passwords, there are password managers. They store your individual user accounts with their respective passwords in encrypted form. Then all you have to do is remember a strong master password. These programmes can also generate strong passwords.
If you would like to install a password management programme (e.g. KeePass XC) on your office computer, please contact your department's IT manager. If you are centrally managed by ZIM (especially in administration), you will find the programme in the ZWD Kiosk for independent installation.
Attention! Memorise your master password. If you forget it, you will no longer be able to access your encrypted credentials.
Phishing
Phishing (from the words "password" and "fishing") is when criminals try to "fish" for sensitive information like your login credentials and/or plant malware to read and encrypt your files.
In a professional context, you are most likely to be confronted with phishing emails. These can be sent as impersonal spam to many recipients. However, targeted phishing with a personal greeting is also possible.
The ZIM informs about new phishing attacks on its website under "Aktuelles": https://zim.uni-wuppertal.de/de/aktuelles/. Information is also provided on the Rocket.Chat channel #allgemein.
If you receive a new suspicious email, you can make an important contribution by informing your supervisor (to warn your department) as well as the ZIM User Support (spam[at]uni-wuppertal.de), so that they can alert the whole university in the case of phishing waves.
Please only forward phishing emails related to the University of Wuppertal or emails that you are not sure about to spam[at]uni-wuppertal.de.
All other clear spam and phishing emails, e.g. from banks, web shops, rich oligarchs, medical products, do not need to be forwarded. Delete them immediately without clicking on links or opening attachments.
Always forward suspicious emails as attachments. This is the only way to preserve all relevant information so that technical measures can be taken if necessary.
In most email programs, you can send an email as an attachment as follows
- Create a new email.
- Drag the message you want to attach from the message list into the new email
- In Outlook, the email is attached as an "Outlook Item".
- In Thunderbird, the attachment will have the extension ".eml".
- Send the new message with the email attached .
1. Do not allow yourself to be pressured!
If you are asked to act "now", "immediately" or "urgently", be suspicious. Never click on links or attachments that promise a quick solution to the supposed problem.
As well as fear, other strong emotions such as curiosity, enthusiasm and sympathy are also used by attackers.
Topics of these emails include: a seemingly full mailbox, a webmail account that seems to be blocked, a supposedly returned application in the e-portal, an urgent request from a person who cannot be contacted, a request to participate in a survey, interesting job offers for academic st
If you are asked to act "now", "immediately", "urgently", you should become suspicious. Never click on links or attachments that promise you a quick solution to the supposed problem.
2. Check the sender and the meaning of the email.
Is the email digitally signed by the sender (e.g. ZIM User Support)? How realistic is the described situation? If in doubt, always pick up the phone and call the supposed sender on a number you know (not the one in the email).
3. No one will ask you for your password - not even the ZIM!
Just enter your password in the usual input masks. We recommend that you save the pages you need as favourites/bookmarks in your browser, e.g. https://zim.uni-wuppertal.de/en/my-account/account-administration/ for managing your ZIM account and https://e-portal.uni-wuppertal.de/ for using the e-portal. Never reply to emails asking for your password and do not click on links or attachments in these emails. Do not share your password with anyone, even trusted colleagues.
4. Don't be ashamed!
Making mistakes is human. If you have clicked on a link or attachment and/or entered your personal data in a wrong form, please do not hide it, but report it immediately to ZIM User Support (ext. -3295), the central IT support of your faculty (if applicable) as well as your supervisor. This will help to prevent the damage from spreading and to warn your colleagues.
Spam emails and ZIM spam filter
Spam, or junk mail, is when unsolicited messages are sent in bulk by email. This is often advertising, which is annoying but not necessarily harmful. However, spam can also include phishing emails, which are used by criminals to get your login details, for example.
There is only one response: Please delete! Never reply! If you reply, the spammers know they have been successful. Sometimes people will claim that you have subscribed to a mailing list and that you can unsubscribe by replying to a particular address. This is a double lie. The same applies here: Please delete!
ZIM's spam filter is a convenient way to sort out and delete spam.
To set the filtering level when using webmail, please go to your account management: https://zim.uni-wuppertal.de/en/my-account/account-administration/
- Filter level 0 does not filter emails at all (current default setting);
- Filter level 1 moves "most likely spam" to the Junk folder;
- Filter level 2 moves "likely spam" to the Junk folder;
- Filter level 3 irrevocably deletes all "most likely spam" and moves "likely spam" to the Junk folder.
If you use an Exchange account to retrieve your emails, you will need to set up a rule in your Microsoft Outlook. ZIM has provided instructions and importable rules for Exchange Spam Filter (in German).
Please note:
Depending on the level of filtering, it is possible that desired emails are mistakenly sorted into the Junk folder. It is therefore advisable to check your Junk folder regularly. You can move a misdirected email to your inbox manually.
