Do You Know How to Recognize a Phishing Scam?
The online safety and security of the U of G community is a top priority. One of the most common methods for cyber criminals to access your personal information is through phishing email scams, where they attempt to lure you into clicking on a link or opening an attachment, try to convince you to share your identity information (e.g. passwords), or try to infect your system with malware.
While Computing and Communication Services (CCS) - the central IT organization on campus - blocks a large number of phishing attempts targeting the University, U of G users still remain vulnerable to new and emerging scams that come out every day.
How to recognize a phishing attempt:
- Spelling and grammar errors evident in email
- Urgent requests for personal information with severe/unrealistic consequences for inaction
- Offers that seem too good to be true
- Lack of integrity in embedded URLs (hover over an embedded URL to ensure the hyperlink matches)
- Unexpected attachments in email
- The sender email does not match the organization it claims to be sent from (i.e. your bank would never send an email from a Gmail account)
What to do if you suspect a phishing attempt:
- Do not respond or open any links in the email until you have confirmed it is safe.
- Never give your password to anyone. U of G will NEVER ask for your password or login information.
- Check our Recent Scams and Phishing Attempts page, if the scam is listed here, delete the email.
- Follow CCS on Twitter (@uofgccs) to receive up-to-date phishing scam alerts, along with other IT security alerts and tech information.
- If you receive a phishing attempt which is not listed on the CCS website or Twitter feed, please forward it to the CCS Help Centre at 58888help@uoguelph.ca
- Report security incidents to the CCS Information Security team via our website https://infosec.uoguelph.ca
You can read more about how to recognize phishing attempts or test your knowledge by taking this quick online phishing quiz.
Be aware and be safe!