Phishing and Scams Awareness – October is Cybersecurity Awareness Month
Fellow DRAGONS ~ Let’s SLAY the Scams!
October is Cybersecurity Awareness Month so we decided to send a friendly reminder about Phishing. Phishing is when criminals impersonate a trusted source like MSUM IT and is a tremendous threat to our community. They’re trying to steal your StarID credentials or personal information. As Dragons, we need to be vigilant!
Remember the 3 R’s: Recognize, Resist, Report.
Top 3 Phishing Red Flags:
- False Urgency: Scammers rely on a sense of urgency to bypass your logic. Be suspicious of immediacy demands or threats of loss if you don’t take action.
- Un-Dragonly Request: Legitimate MSUM staff will NEVER ask for your password or credentials.
- Crooked Address: Always check the sender’s email address by hovering your mouse over it to check the actual address behind the “name”. A real MSUM email ends in @mnstate.edu – not @adobe.us.org like below.
The email below was a limited phishing test initiated by the MNSCU system office earlier this month. The yellow highlights are two clues it was suspicious; the email was not an internal email address and the name was not capitalized. A third clue of its suspicious nature is the Caution banner (being pointed at with the red arrow). Our system checks will flag an external email with the banner which should always make you pause and confirm the sender address as one you know to be legitimate. These are just a few simple examples of what you can look for in a phishing attempt. It’s a good practice to scan for anything unfamiliar before you consider reacting to the email.
If you have questions or receive a suspicious email, reach out to the MSUM IT Helpdesk using one of the following:
- Email: support@mnstate.edu
- Phone: 218.477.2603
- Support portal: https://support.mnstate.edu for chat or submit a support ticket.
Thank you for helping keep our campus community safe!
Sandie East, CIO and the IT Team