Welcome (and welcome back) to Widener!
It’s a new academic year, and internet threats are ready and waiting as usual. Students, faculty, and staff are all busy preparing for a great year of learning, but the bad guys are trying to sneak past our guard. Here are some of the old classic threats that are still in use:
- Impersonation emails that look like they’re from someone on campus (“Are you available?” gift card scams)
- Random offers of on- or off-campus jobs (especially involving exchanges of gift cards or money orders)
- PDF files that are nothing but a link, or try to get you to “log in”
- Office365 document shares that don’t look like Widener emails
- Warnings or threats about your Widener email account being closed or locked out, or that it “needs to be verified”
- Voicemails or faxes that are supposedly waiting on you
- Screen pop-ups that try to get you to click something (even legit ads are dangerous)
Please remember to be very careful with email links, especially from addresses you don’t know. The bad guys can also paste a real name onto a fake email, so take care when using your phone – phones often don’t show the email address. And they love to hit you during your commute.
When an email asks you to click a link, it’s best if you initiate the reply using a fresh start. Contact the person or department the way you’re familiar with, or check on my.widener.edu for the correct campus link.
Any phishing, scam, questionable, or just plain weird emails should be sent to phish@widener.edu. We’ll gladly check whether it’s real or a scam.
Follow our blog here at itsnews.widener.edu – we post on all types of ITS issues. Follow on Twitter at @WidenerISO for security news and current issues. If you ever have a question about email, passwords, viruses, or computer security in general, feel free to call the Information Security Office at ext. 1044, or open a ticket at the HelpDesk (quickticket.widener.edu).
Thanks, and have a great year!
