Welcome from Information Security

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!

It’s Everyone’s Job to Ensure Online Safety at Work

It takes all of us to keep each other secure.

Photo by Stanley Dai on UnsplashIt’s often said that “people are the weakest link” in cybersecurity. We prefer to think of them as our greatest assets – not only our focus of protection, but also our greatest allies! A lot of phishes and spam that gets past our filters is caught by you. You’ve been forwarding the weird stuff to phish@widener.edu (keep it going!), and we’ve had a lot of success in reducing the number of compromised accounts. So, don’t let up – the bad guys sure aren’t. Every user at Widener is a target, even President Wollman herself. In fact, she’s one of our most eagle-eyed phish catchers!

Last week we spoke about the many scams that are hitting universities, and ours is no exception. Since that post, we’ve had several of the same types of scams come through our systems. We were safe from each due to skeptical and security-aware staff. Nevertheless, the attacks continue, and we expect them to get more targeted and better crafted.

Please be aware that one of the methods used is to build a scam so that you can’t easily verify the sender’s email address on a smartphone. Plus, if the bad guys send it during your commute, it’s even harder to know if it’s legit. Add to that an “URGENT” or a “right now,” and your red flags should go up. We want you to know who the sender really is, but we also want you to drive safely and get here okay. Check that email sender’s address on your PC, laptop, or tablet before replying.

Whether it’s preventing phishes, spam, and malware by a system we’ve put in place, or by the awareness of our user community, keeping Widener University safe is a shared responsibility.

Sometimes the Spam is a Scam

National Cybersecurity Awareness Month continues, and so do the scams.

 

There’s never a lull in email scams here at Widener.  Our community is targeted daily by one or more scams.  Some of them are old classics, and some are brand new.  Here is a list of a few we’ve seen – but even though it’s a short list, we get plenty of them.

Invoices – the bad guys send us “invoices” that are often spoofing or impersonating Widener employees.  The attachments usually have some sort of installer that tries to put malware (probably Ransomware) on the computer.  Sometimes they’re just PDFs with “links” to phishing sites.  So far, our defenses are finding them before they do anything bad (the author here knocks on wood).  Still, it’s best to be aware of any invoice, especially those that don’t refer to anything that’s due. (FTC link about this)

Direct Deposit – we’ve seen several instances of the bad guys impersonating employees to try to get our Payroll and HR groups to change their direct deposit info.  The goal is to catch a payroll or reimbursement deposit and then drain the account before the absence is noticed by the employee. This one is bad because when the money is gone, it’s gone. Since these started, we’ve put controls in place to verify requests. (Lexology link about this)

Dog-Walking/Babysitting/Nanny/Caregiver Offer – This scam involves the offer of a job doing some light care of pets, children, or a loved one.  Once responded to, the bad guy begins a scheme where a bad check is deposited, and the victim is directed to pay a third party to buy needed supplies and pay themselves.  The third party (the scammer) gets the money before the bank discovers the check is bogus, and victim is stuck with the shortage. (FTC link about this)

Sextortion” – The victim gets an email claiming to know their password, and it is often a valid one (usually old).  The scammer tells the victim that he/she has been caught looking at porn sites, and will release a pic “from the user’s camera” unless a sum of money is paid.  This one really gets to users because the password that the scammer sends is from one of the many breaches that have revealed passwords tied to addresses.  It’s a really popular scam – we’ve received dozens here at Widener – but it’s a scam nonetheless. (Forbes link about this)

Gift Cards – In this one, scammers impersonate someone that has a management position, and direct the employee to buy a sum of gift cards, scrape off the back, and provide the verification numbers back to the scammer.  Everyone wants to please their boss, so this one can be a real problem.  The best defense is to get to know your boss, and never use gift cards like this. (FTC link about this)

The goal of the scammer/phisher is to appear legitimate, which makes this difficult.  The better they are, the more people they can fool. Use this to your advantage: if it looks good, but you shouldn’t be getting it, that’s a red flag. Forward any email that’s weird or out of the ordinary to phish@widener.edu.