Email Best Practices - Don't Get Phished!

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Avoid Phishing Attempts

In the past couple of years, phishing attacks have become increasingly sophisticated and credible.  Here are some important things to remember when handling your email:     

 1.     IMPORTANT: The Office of Information Technology (OIT) will never ask you to provide your username and password. If you receive an email that requests this information, it’s not legitimate and you should delete it.   In addition, OIT will not threaten to deactivate or delete your account if you fail to act.   

 2.     Never provide any personal information (social security numbers, date of birth, account information) in an email, phone, text or on social media sites.

 3.     Don’t click on links or open file attachments from people you don’t know.  When in doubt, either delete it or contact the OIT Technology Service Center for advice.  Another tip is to hover your mouse over any link that is suspicious to reveal the real web address.  If it doesn’t match the link typed in the message, be suspicious and delete the message.   Even if it matches the link, don’t click on it if you don’t recognize the sender. 

 4.     If you are a victim of a phish, your account will be locked until OIT can check your computer, remove any malware and reset SJU settings on the device.  You must change your password immediately and be sure to create a strong password with a combination of letters, numbers and special characters.

 5.     If you are a repeat offender and fall victim to a phishing attempt a second time, security awareness training will be required before your account will be unlocked.  We understand that this is inconvenient but these violations are costly, have an institutional impact and need to be handled as a serious matter.  

 6.     To report Phishing in Gmail click the three verticle dots on the right side of the email. Then click "Report Phishing" Google will ensure that you will no longer receive emails from this email address as well as protect you from furture Phishing attempts. Screen shots for example are posted below.

 

Information security is everyone’s responsibility and we greatly appreciate your attention to this important matter.

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Article ID: 13328
Created
Mon 5/23/16 9:46 AM
Modified
Wed 8/17/22 2:00 PM