August 29, 2008 Phishing Attacks Targeted at Mines Campus Notice
“Phishing” Attacks Targeted at Mines Campus
With the start of the Fall semester, “phishing” scams targeted at the Mines campus have started up again. These emails often ask you to verify your account information or confirm your username and password. The messages may appear to come from on campus and frequently look authentic. They may even reference information specific to our campus such as maintenance times, display our logos, or be targeted at you by name. They are all designed to get you to disclose personal or sensitive information to third parties. The information may be used for several reasons, and can include sending spam from our systems under your name to serious forms of identity theft. You should NEVER respond to these messages or follow links from them to web pages.
Please note that AC&N and Information Services will NEVER ask you to email your password or other sensitive information to us. You should also be suspicious of any email asking you to log into a web page, even if the link in the email looks legitimate. To help insure your safety you should never click on a link included in an email message without verifying that it is taking you to the site indicated – it is possible to make a link in an email look like it will take you to a legitimate location when it will actually take you somewhere else. The best practice in this situation is to type the link into your web browser rather than click the link in the email.
As a further safeguard, AC&N will begin publishing all broadcast emails and notices sent from AC&N, including this one, under the Verify Email Notices section of AC&N’s website. Any broadcast emails or automated emails (such as over quota notices) sent to a mailing list from AC&N will also be posted in that section of our website. We will never include a link to those notices in an email, but instructions on how to find these confirmation copies will be included.
If you have any concerns about the source of a broadcast email from AC&N, please check the Verify Email Notices section of our website or contact your system administrator or AC&N directly.
Thank you,
Derek Wilson
CIO & Director
Academic Computing & Networking
Colorado School of Mines