Posted December 1, 2021 by Academic and Institutional Technology
Tags: Department News
Keep a Watchful Eye Out!
October was cybersecurity awareness month and one way that Wheaton College celebrated was by doing a simulated phishing exercise for all of our faculty, staff, and students. How did we do? Let’s look!
The results showed that our staff are “winning” if spotting phishing scams were a contest. Excellent work, staff! It seems that our students were most likely to fall prey to a phishing scam, especially freshmen and sophomores. This provides us with a good opportunity to remind our entire campus community to remain alert to these types of scams. Once you have given your NetID and password to the “bad guys” not only is your own account vulnerable, but then the “bad guys” can use your account to try and do harm to others.
We recognize that the email to students from “Campus Wellness” was a tricky one. With a name that close to “Student Wellness” it tripped up many of our students. Unfortunately, that is how real phishing attacks work. Criminals research Wheaton’s web site and craft phishing emails that mimic our organization. Try to pay attention even to the little details in an email. Kudos to those of you who contacted Student Wellness to see if the email was legitimate—that was a wise choice.
Kudos also go to employees who used the “Report Message” function in Outlook to notify Microsoft of the phishing email, and to those who contacted the AIT Service Desk to report it.
You can read more about phishing. Remember that you can always check with the AIT Service Desk if you are uncertain about the legitimacy of an email. We would always rather confirm with you instead of having you fall victim to a phishing scam.
Also, be sure to mark any phishing emails you receive via “Report Message in Outlook or “Report Phish” in Gmail.
Thank you for helping us keep our campus safe!
If you have any questions, please contact us at ait.service.desk@wheaton.edu or call 630.752.4357 (HELP).