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Cybersecurity is part of how Gonzaga carries out its mission. The University's Mission Statement calls the community to “responsible stewardship of our physical, financial, and human resources,” and data is one of those resources. Protecting it, and protecting the people whose information it represents, is a practical extension of that stewardship, not a separate obligation layered on top of it.
Whether you’re a student managing coursework accounts, a staff member handling sensitive records, or faculty running research systems, a basic working knowledge of cybersecurity is now part of operating responsibly at a modern university.
Annual Cybersecurity Awareness Training, in Partnership with Adaptive Security
Gonzaga’s Information Security team partners with Adaptive Security to deliver our Cybersecurity Awareness Training program. Each fall, all staff, faculty, and students are required to complete the training.
Why This Training Matters
Security Is a Shared Responsibility
Protecting the University’s systems and data isn’t solely the Information Security team’s job. It’s distributed across everyone who uses a Gonzaga account, a Gonzaga device, or Gonzaga data. Training gives each person the working knowledge to recognize risk and act on it, rather than depending entirely on a central team to catch every problem after the fact.
Threats Change, So Training Has to Keep Up
Attackers adjust their methods continuously, including tactics built around AI-generated phishing and impersonation. Annual, updated training is how the University keeps pace, making sure the guidance people receive reflects the threats actually in circulation rather than a static list from years past.
A Common Baseline Across the Community
When students, faculty, and staff share the same basic vocabulary and habits around cybersecurity, that consistency becomes a real asset. It supports the kind of community Gonzaga aims to be: one where people look out for each other and for the institution, in ways that outlast any one person’s time on campus.
What the Training Covers
- Core concepts: phishing, password hygiene, and safe browsing, explained in plain terms for non-technical users.
- Simulated scenarios: realistic, low-stakes exercises through Adaptive Security’s platform that let people practice spotting an attack before they encounter a real one.
- Accessible design: content built for a range of technical backgrounds, so the training is useful whether someone works in IT or has never thought about cybersecurity before.
Security awareness training isn’t a compliance formality. It’s one of the concrete ways the Gonzaga community practices the stewardship its mission calls for, protecting the data, systems, and people that make the University’s work possible.