Have you ever been phished (fished)?
Phishing is a type of computer scam. You get an email that appears to be from your bank or some other financial institution or reliable source. What should you do? They have a link on the email to find out the details about a charge on your credit card or they tell you that some of your records have been altered or deleted and they need you to send some information to them.
This link is actually either going to install some virus or spyware on your computer and everything that you send out is going to be infected or be redirected to an address that is not a legitimate business address this includes transactions done in SSL (secure sockets layer) where the lock shows on the lower right portion of your window. In other words someone is trying to steal your personal information. Two example that we have had on campus are the email from a Paypal look alike - exchange-robot@paypal.com saying that they have made a charge to your credit card for $175.00 and on 11/15/04 the one that appears to be from Suntrust bank - SunTrust Security Department requesting personal information. Financial institutions will not request personal information through an email. If you are in doubt, do not send an email, but call a branch office of the financial institution and find out from them. See below for more scams.
Scams from new sources:
The message below is an example of a phishing scam. All official UVa-Wise email will contain an individual staff member name.
-----Original Message-----
From: Email Manager [mailto:snod@localnet.com]
Sent: Mon 7/14/2008 5:01 PM
To: undisclosed-recipients
Subject: Your .Edu Email Account cancellation Notice
Attn: Edu Account Owner
This message is from Our Schools web mail Admin messaging center to all web mail account owners.We are currently upgrading our data base and e-mail account center. We are canceling unused web mail email account to create more space for new accounts.
To prevent your account from closing you will have to update it below to know it's status as a currently used account.
CONFIRM YOUR EMAIL IDENTITY BELOW
Email Username :
Email Password :
Date of Birth :
Warning!!! Any account owner that refuses to update his/her account within Three days of this update notification will loose his/her account permanently.
Thank you for using web mail
Support Team
Warning Code :ID67565434
"Support Team Administration"
Don't allow files from unknown sources on your computer
Accepting files from others by opening attachments, by downloading files from web pages, or by other means is risky. Each time you encounter a new file, judge carefully the reliability of the file's source and contents before you open it or save it to your computer. It's best never to open an attachment unless you are absolutely sure of the credibility of both the sender and the contents of the sent material. Remember, malicious programs like viruses and worms can spoof the identity of an email message's sender. Just because the message says it's from someone you know doesn't mean that it really is.
For additional IT Security Advisories, please check out the following links or, if you are part of the UVa-Wise campus community, you may request assistance from Susan Herron at ext. 4641. These links are provided for your convenience and no responsibility for the content on these sites is implied or guaranteed.
