Listen up! You may have already heard about the Phishing attempts against university employees’ direct deposits in OIT News. This message is worth repeating again because phishers are increasing their efforts, and it’s your personal information and money they are after!

The Center for Internet Security (CIS), a nonprofit organization focused on enhancing the cyber security readiness and response of public and private sector entities, reported that in at least three separate incidents in 2014, cyber hackers sent phishing email with malicious links to university employees. Those who clicked on the link were taken to fraudulent websites, resembling their university’s employee portal. The fraudulent websites collected single sign-on credentials, which were used to modify the employee’s direct deposit account information. The hackers then redirected the employee’s paycheck to a financial account under their control.

According to CIS, university employees reported that:

• the malicious websites were poor copies of their university’s single sign-on portal; and
• many of the email appeared as though they originate with their university.

Your help is needed in guarding against these types of attacks on NC State’s campus:

• Keep your eyes open to email requesting your sign-on credentials. Remember that NC State IT personnel will never send you an email asking for your Unity account password.
• If you receive phishing email, please forward it to abuse@ncsu.edu or call the NC State Help Desk at 515-HELP (4357).
• If you respond to a phishing attack:
• change your password immediately;
• check your direct deposit information in the MyPack Portal; and
• look for any Gmail filters (to redirect your mail) that may have been added to your email account while it was compromised.

Be vigilant. These phishing attacks are a constant and can be extremely damaging to you and the university.