Campus & Community

Phishers Are Busier than Ever

Thursday, May 12, 2016, By Christopher C. Finkle

As summer approaches, Information Technology Services (ITS) reminds you that hackers and phishers are busier than ever. For some time, the University has been experiencing extensive phishing attacks. These attacks are getting more frequent, cunning and malicious. Phishers can bury their deceitful attempts among all the other email we get, and they seem to expect that as the semester closes we’ll be less careful, and there will be fewer staff members present to respond quickly to attacks.

SU’s Information Security team will be monitoring for reports of phishing attacks, and will communicate with the campus or individual units if significant threats are detected or reported. Please don’t hesitate to contact ITS at ITSecurity@listserv.syr.edu to report any suspicious activity, or if you think you’ve been taken in by a phisher.
Please continue to be extra vigilant when reviewing your unsolicited email. Follow the advice below to protect yourself and the University from phishing attacks:

  • Be suspicious of any email from senders you don’t know or that seems out of character or unusual for the sender.
  • Verify that the sender is actually who they appear to be—even if you have to call them up— before clicking on any links.
  • Verify the URL of any link before you click it by hovering your cursor over the link and examining the URL. If you don’t recognize the URL, don’t click it.
  • Never open attachments unless they are from someone you know or are otherwise expected.
  • Delete any suspicious emails, before opening them if possible.
  • Don’t enter your username and password (especially your SU NetID) to access any website if you are not 100 percent sure of its validity. In particular, you should be suspicious of email messages that have links to sites that ask you to use your SU NetID and password to log in.
  • Keep your computer software updated and patched, particularly your antivirus and anti-malware software.
  • Make sure your computer’s firewall is installed and running.
  • Remember that nobody at SU will ever ask for your NetID or password for any reason, in any form other than when you’re logging into an SU system. If somebody does, they’re not representing the University or any if its offices.

For additional information and timely articles, bookmark our website, http://its.syr.edu/infosec. Follow us on Twitter (@SecurecUse) and like us on Facebook (SecurecUse) to receive updates on information security threats and issues affecting our campus and your digital presence.