UM is experiencing an increase in phishing attempts last week. UM’s Security Operations Center (UM-SOC) has investigated these phishing mails and issues a warning for all of us.
Most phishing mails try to trick you into revealing your password right away e.g. through a malicious link to a fake login-screen.
Recent phishing campaigns however use new tricks to gain your trust.
- Criminals just try to start a conversation, without any links or attachments, giving you a compliment or asking you whether you are available at that moment. Once you reply, they try to trick you with links or attachments, or to buy things or transfer money during the conversation.
- Criminals hacked into someone’s account, often a contact outside UM, and reuse information from your earlier email conversations to let you believe the email is genuine and at the same time include a malicious link or attach a (ZIP-) file containing a virus, mostly a malicious macro in a Microsoft Office file.
In both cases criminals use a so called spoofing technique to let you believe the sender is an UM colleague.
Tips:
- If you don’t trust the sender, do not reply, but contact him/her through your own contact information.
- If for any reason, you did reveal your password or if your workstation or file behaves suspicious after opening an attachment or downloading a file, change your password through Myaccount (search for “myaccount” at UM’s Home-page)
- Forward suspicious emails to Servicedesk-ICTS, preferably as attachment, and inform Servicedesk-ICTS of suspicious behaviour and whether you already changed your password.
For more information, read the Do’s & Don’ts.
