Jon Carey
Equinox Staff
Recent MyKSC email accounts have experienced unusual spam activity that could lead to the disclosure of personal information due to these phishing attempts.
“Phishing” is email spam sent by someone pretending to be an organization or individual, and it is designed to fool a user into providing his or her log-in credentials. MyKSC bulletin posted information from the Help Desk regarding the latest phishing attempts.
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The announcement urges students not to respond to the email, and that if you do respond, your account credentials will be compromised, and you should immediately change your password. Emails sent out by the IT Group, or any other legitimate institution, would ever request this kind of personal information. Like it was taught all through life, it is strongly suggested that you never give out your personal information to any source, and there should never be an exception to this rule.
Chief Information Officer of Information Technology Group Laura Seriachick said students shouldn’t worry about a viral threat but to simply ignore any unfamiliar emails requesting personal information.
“We did hear from only a few students regarding a recent ‘suspicious’ email that they received,” Seriachick said. “As it turned out, the email in question was a ‘phishing’ attempt and not a virus. Phishing is a popular scam used to steal personal information.”
Students should be aware of strange websites as that’s just another way people can access personal information, but only if you give it out.
“Typically phishers send pop-up messages and/or emails that attempt to convince others to submit personal information through email or on a fake web site,” Seriachick said.
Jon Fain, a KSC senior, said ever since he read the announcement made on MyKSC bulletin he has noticed fake websites and emails intruding his account.
“At first I didn’t notice them because I just don’t read junk mail, but once I opened a random email I noticed how easy it is if you were to give your personal information,” Fain said.
The Help Desk encourages anyone who wants to learn more about phishing and what it looks like to complete an online test at http://www.sonicwall.com/phishing/index.html.
“The Help Desk continues to provide education to faculty, staff, and students on a regular basis regarding security,” Seriachick said.
KSC senior and IT student assistant Ryan Wilson said he has dealt with plenty of phishing attempts on his email account, but you just have to ignore them.
“As long as there’s Internet there will always be somebody trying to steal information via emails, fake websites, or however they want to scheme it up,” Wilson said. “The only antidote is the delete button which ensures your personal information will remain untouched.”
There is no exact number of how many emails are sent out or how many students have been affected by these threats, and IT stresses that these emails are not viral if opened.
“These specific phishing attempts are only harmful if you release any information and reply to the actual email, your computer shouldn’t be harmed if you in fact respond to the emails,” Wilson said. “I think the college has done well in informing the students via MyKSC of what the phishing email attempts mean and how they are harmful to anyone accessing their email.”
“I think the last thing we need is complete student hysteria caused by a computer virus that also steals personal information,” Fain said. “As long as people know about it and how to avoid the threat then there shouldn’t be too much to worry about.”
The Help Desk is located on the second floor of Elliot Hall, room 243, and you can always visit the Help Desk website at http://www.keene.edu/it/security/default.cfm if you would like more information regarding phishing and other helpful security information.
Jon Carey can be contacted at jcarey1@ksc.mailcruiser.com.