Targeted Ransomware Attacks

May 23rd, Tip of the Week  | Colleges and universities continue to be targets of ransomware attacks and phishing emails are the primary method/technique used by bad actors to gain access to internal systems. Disruptions have affected instructional tools, wireless connections and single sign-on websites. Stolen data can include both personal and financial information. Students, faculty and staff are encouraged to be cautious of external messages and unusual requests. To view the most recent phish emails targeting campus, please visit our phish alert page here.

Fake PayPal Invoices

May 16th, Tip of the Week  | Recent reports coming from IT listservs describe universities being inundated with PayPal scams. If you routinely handle invoices as part of your job at W&L, be sure to watch out for fake PayPal invoices. Always check to ensure payment requests are tied to a specific invoice or workorder before making payments through PayPal. These scams are particularly dangerous because once a payment is sent, the funds are transferred instantly.

Personalized Scams

May 9th, Tip of the Week  | Cyber criminals now have a wealth of information on almost all of us. With so many organizations getting hacked, cyber criminals simply purchase databases with personal information on millions of people, then use that information to customize their attacks, making them far more realistic. Just because an urgent email has your home address, phone number, or birth date in it does not mean it is legitimate.

Forwarding Emails

May 2nd, Tip of the Week  | When you forward an email to others or copy new people to an email thread, review all the content in the entire email and make sure the information contained in it is suitable for everyone. It is very easy to forward emails to others, not realizing there is highly sensitive information in the bottom of the email that people should not have access to.