During National Cybersecurity Awareness month, Information Technology Services reminds employees to be wary of suspicious “spear phishing” emails that appear to come from high-profile people you don’t usually deal with directly, such as a dean, director or the president. These are usually short messages requesting immediate payment through gift cards, wire transfer or money order.
Spear phishing is harder to detect than generic phishing because they include details specific to you, but there are usually clues:
They appear to be from an official WVU person. Check the return email address closely and hover over embedded links to see where the information is really going. A survey that goes to an address similar to a WVU website like www.login.wvu.edu0.in is not an official University survey.
They contain an urgent request and/or threatening consequences. Spear phishing messages often urge you to act immediately and demand immediate payment via unsecure methods such as wire transfer, Western Union, money order, gift cards, Bitcoin or refillable debit card.
Subject lines are short or generic. Be suspicious of emails with subject lines like “Very Urgent,” “Help,” “Request,” or even just “Hello.”
Poorly formatted text and questionable grammar. No one who works at the University would call us The University of West Virginia, and no one who knows you would refer to you as “User” instead of by your name.
When you receive a suspicious email that has some or all of these signs, be skeptical and think before you act. Would your dean really ask you to purchase gift cards while she was in an all-day long meeting? Would President Gee be asking you directly about the status of a vendor payment? Chances are, those emails are spear phishing attempts.
If you’re ever in doubt, contact the person directly to confirm the request is legitimate. Never reply to the email. Forward all suspicious emails as an attachment to ITS at defendyourdata@mail.wvu.edu for analysis.
For more ways to keep yourself and your devices safe, search "Defend Your Data" in ENEWS.