The University of Toledo

Phishing Awareness

No Phishing Allowed!

Email phishing scams attempt to solicit personal information including account passwords and financial account information.  While IT blocks most SPAM these attempts change rapidly and unfortunately some get delivered to UT students, faculty, and staff.  Please don’t be fooled…

Phishing Characteristics:

•  Normally appears as an urgent or important notice from a trusted source.
•  Often is sent form a forged (or spoofed) email address and may look like it is from a trusted source.
• Asks for private information such as account numbers, user names, and passwords.
  • Some may ask for information via email.
  • More sophisticated attempts may provide a fraudulent web link to collect information.

Credible institutions should not ask for passwords in an email and specifically The University of Toledo IT personnel will NEVER ask for your password in an email.  Historically, compromised UT accounts have been used most frequently to send more SPAM and Phishing emails.  This becomes an issue for the account owner as they deal with thousands of returned messages and the inability to effectively use their email account.  It also can impact the entire University community as SPAM filters used by other organizations may begin blocking emails from utoledo.edu addresses based on SPAM messages that we have sent.

The Internet provides a significant set of resources for University students, faculty, and staff and there are those that attempt to take advantage of our use of the Internet.  Along with phishing, many other Internet scams exist and web pages may contain viruses or spyware. 

Security Tips:

• Use anti-virus software and firewalls on your personal computers.
• Keep your operating system and programs patched and up to date.
• Be wary of email attachments.  Don’t open attachments from people you don’t know.
• Be cautious of what you “click.”  Many web pages contain links to viruses or other exploits.

Scams are prevalent.  As a rule of thumb – If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is! 

For more IT Security related information please visit
http://www.utoledo.edu/it/NS/Security/index.html
or email the IT Security Office at  ITSecurityOffice@utoledo.edu.