In the News
Phishing attacks do not just happen at big businesses. In Multiple Phishing Campaigns Target Universities, Kacy Zurkus at Infosecurity Magazine discusses the high occurrence of phishing attacks taking aim at university students and staff. Zurkus explains that over 130 universities across the globe and 83 in the US alone have been targeted by phishing attempts in the past year. Zurkus elaborates that malicious attackers trick individuals with legitimate looking university home pages only differentiable by small abnormalities in URL and obtain personal information and credential from their targets.
Our Take
Phishing attacks are dangerous because they aim to steal personal information that can be used for identity theft and future spams. While there has been an increase in awareness regarding the prevalence and dangers of phishing attacks in recent years, such attacks continue to occur at alarming rates and threaten the privacy of individuals. University students and staff remain an easy target because of the trust such individuals’ have in their institutions and a general lack of cybersecurity knowledge. Such knowledge comes with time and exposure and unfortunately, malicious individuals are capitalizing on this vulnerability to exploit those associated with universities putting these individuals’ university information and identity in jeopardy. Many universities, including Northwestern, have implemented initiatives to educate the community on safe online practices and provide tips and solutions for phishing and scam related attacks.
Recommendations
How can you protect yourself from falling prey to a phishing attack?
- Know the signs of an email scam and know how to act if you are affected
- Avoid clicking directly on links, whether in email or social media – always search through your search engine to verify legitimacy and find the appropriate site
- Refrain from opening suspicious attachments
- Pay special attention to messages that threaten to cut off a service or promise unlikely rewards–these are intended to get you to act quickly without thinking
- Stay up to date on news regarding recent fraud and phishing attacks to see if you may have been affected