Universities are faced with numerous cybersecurity risks and many of those begin with phishing attacks — ranging from simple to sophisticated. Attackers often take advantage of current events and special holidays, shifting into high gear with charity scams, delivery scams, gift card scams and online shopping scams.

What is a phishing attack?
Phishing is a form of social engineering that uses email or malicious websites to solicit personal information by posing as a trustworthy institution.

Phishing attacks are mostly delivered via email and commonly use a sense of urgency to direct the victim to visit a website designed to steal their account credentials. Some phishing attacks are straightforward, for example, "Update your password now!!!!" and can easily be detected because they typically are not written well (poor grammar and word choice).

However, some attacks are sophisticated, well written and appear to come from a trusted contact. If you receive an email that asks you to give your account credentials or personal information (social security number, birth date, or credit card number) DO NOT click on email links.

By following these simple precautions, we can make phishing attacks a thing of the past.

What are common indicators of phishing attempts?

• Suspicious sender’s address. The sender's address may imitate a legitimate business. Cybercriminals often use an email address that closely resembles one from a reputable company by altering or omitting a few characters.

• Generic greetings and signatures. Both a generic greeting — such as “Dear Valued Customer” or “Sir/Ma’am” and a lack of contact information in the signature block are strong indicators of a phishing email. A trusted institution will normally address you by name and provide their contact information.

• Spoofed hyperlinks and websites. If you hover your cursor over any links in the body of the email, and the links do not match the text that appears when hovering over them, the link may be spoofed. Malicious websites may look identical to a legitimate site, but the URL may use a variation in spelling or a different domain (e.g., .com vs. .net). Additionally, cybercriminals may use a URL shortening service to hide the true destination of the link.

• Spelling and layout. Poor grammar and irregular formatting are other indicators of a possible phishing attempt. Reputable institutions have dedicated personnel that produce, verify, and proofread customer correspondence.

• Suspicious attachments. An unsolicited email requesting a user download and open an attachment is a common delivery mechanism for malware. Cybercriminals often use a false sense of urgency to persuade a user to download or open an attachment.

How to avoid being a victim?

• Be suspicious of unsolicited phone calls, visits, or email messages from individuals asking about employees or other internal information. If an unknown individual claims to be from a legitimate organization, verify his or her identity directly with the company.
• Do not provide personal information about yourself or the university, including its structure or networks, unless you are certain of a person's authority to have the information.
• Do not reveal personal or financial information in an email and do not respond to email solicitations for this information.
• Do not send sensitive information over the internet before checking a website's security.
  • Pay attention to the Uniform Resource Locator (URL) of a website. Look for URLs that begin with "https" — an indication that sites are secure — rather than "http.”
  • Look for a closed padlock icon — a sign your information will be encrypted.
• If you are unsure whether an email request is legitimate, verify it by contacting the company directly. Do not use contact information provided on a website connected to the request; instead, check previous statements for contact information.
• Install and maintain anti-virus software, firewalls, and email filters to detect and mitigate cybersecurity attacks.
• Take advantage of any anti-phishing features offered by your email client and web browser.
• Enforce 2-Step Verification for stronger security. With 2-Step Verification you will protect your accounts with both your password and something you have (phone, tablet, computer).