If you’re reading this, you may have spotted January’s test phishing email! This email was sent as part of the Secure UD “Take a BITE out of phish!” campaign, a University initiative to raise our community’s awareness about phishing attacks, their consequences, and how to avoid becoming a victim. Each month, a random sample of employees will receive a harmless test phish like this one:
1: Imitated branding or logo
Is this a brand or logo you recognize? Although this logo looks very similar to a well known bank logo, it has been altered slightly. Pay close attention to fine details and contact your bank at their regular customer service number to see if emails like this are legitimate or not.
2: Using your name to gain legitimacy:
Phishers may include your name to increase the appearance of legitimacy. Their goal is to make you comply and provide the information they seek.
3: Sense of urgency:
Don’t be fooled by urgent or consequential wording. In this example, the phisher wants you to log in and update your account information “immediately.”
4: Log in to your account in a verifiable way:
Links and fake logins may take you to a criminal or malicious website. When in doubt, use your cursor to hover over the text of the hyperlink to see the URL destination (which will help to show whether it leads to a legitimate website). As always, keep security software turned on and up to date. Beware of shortened URLs like Bitly and Owly links.
Always exercise caution; if you receive a suspicious request for your personal information, instructions to visit a suspicious website, or download a suspicious attachment, forward it to reportaphish@udel.edu.
And as always, Think B4 U Click!