As many colleagues are aware, ICT have conducted a VCEG approved Phishing campaign to gain awareness of the extent of the issue.
Unfortunately some 1 in 5 staff clicked on the link within the email and 1 in 7 staff entered their credentials. ICT will be taking further steps regarding this. Please take a look at these handy, helpful tips in the meantime:
Some useful tips to avoid getting caught out:
- Be wary of emails from unknown senders, especially when they ask you to confirm information. ICT will never ask you to enter your credentials via an email
- Never click links or open attachments from emails that you are not expecting
- If a “colleague” asks you to send them something via email, confirm via phone before you do.
Characteristics of a phishing e-mail:
- May have a green buttons with “Display message” on them
- May appear to be from a beds.ac.uk e-mail address (The from address has been spoofed and sent from somewhere else)
- Poor spelling or grammar
- There is usually a catch, a request to send money, make a purchase, confirm your details
- Unrealistic threats or demands – urgent action or your account will be closed.
- A mismatched URL – people click links in untrustworthy emails despite knowing it was most probably malicious. To check whether an embedded link in an email is trustworthy, hover your mouse over it, if the hyperlinked address is not concurrent with the embedded link then it is most likely malicious
- Asked sensitive information – regardless of the sender, you should be highly suspicious of any e-mail that requires you to disclose sensitive information such as credit card details or password.
