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Protect Yourself From PhishingBy Gabe Marshall, Information Security AnalystThis is the second in a three-part series of articles the UNT Information Security Team prepared as a part of their own security awareness program. The first article was published last month in Benchmarks Online. In recent years, UNT has become a common target of an increasingly popular email attack method known as “Phishing”. The attack usually has no specific target (much like actual fishing), and uses various lures in attempt to trick users into believing the email is legitimate. Hackers who design and distribute these attacks are normally seeking passwords, social security numbers, or any other type of valuable information. Specifically to UNT, the past year has shown several occurrences of email messages appearing to be from UNT IT Support asking users for their passwords. How come nothing is done to prevent these emails, you might ask? Unfortunately there is only so much that can be done from a technical standpoint. Email can easily be forged to appear benign due to the fact that the “TO” and “FROM” headers in email are largely arbitrary text. The best advice is to simply be careful with the emails you open and respond to. Pay special attention to the links you are about to click on as well as the type of information you are about to send out. If you receive an email that you’re not quite sure about, try to keep an eye out for any of the following telltale signs of common phishing emails.
Remember that sensitive information should never be requested through email, even if it appears to be from a valid source such as a bank, government agency, or even UNT. If you’re still unsure about the legitimacy of an email, you can always forward it to the UNT Information Security team security@unt.edu, 565-4062. To find out more about Information Security and the training opportunities we have available at UNT, visit our website at www.unt.edu/security.
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