Clever Staples phishing email showing up in MRU inboxes – 09/05/19
Classes have begun and the hackers are betting that employees across campus will be ordering supplies. They have begun sending out fake order confirmations from Staples. These emails are extremely well done. Take a look.
I especially like the note at the bottom that specifically asks you to reply to the email. Just in case you are suspicious, they have given you some lovely directions that will put you in touch with them. Very clever.
The only real tell, unless you are super familiar with the email that Staples uses for order confirmations, is the View here button URL that takes you to chainetwork.club. Definitely not Staples.
As with all other emails that come from organizations that you are familiar with, visit their website directly to check orders, confirmations and payments. Do not use links in emails even if they look as legitimate as this one.
Iranian hacker group using LinkedIn to deliver malware – 08/06/19
FireEye has identified a new phishing campaign targeting oil, gas and energy companies as well as utilities and government organizations. The rather clever criminal contacts victims through LinkedIn claiming to be a researcher at the University of Cambridge. Once contact is made, the victim is offered a job and asked to provide a resume. As part of the application process, they are also asked to go to cam-research-ac.com to download and fill out a document. Of course once they do, malware is loaded onto their computer.
What makes this campaign so concerning is the assumed legitimacy that comes with using LinkedIn to communicate with potential victims. People tend to trust the platform and therefore trust those that use it to communicate. Unfortunately, this trust is misplaced.
When you are contacted by someone you don’t know on any social media platform, treat that communication with the same skepticism as you do with any email message. Just because they say they are from a trusted organization, does not mean they are. Before you engage in conversation, call their organization and confirm that they are in fact employed there. A little homework can save a lot of headache.
Watch out for fake Equifax settlement emails – 08/01/19
Cybercriminals are sending out fake Equifax settlement emails. These emails are promising free credit monitoring and/or compensation. To make matters worse, they are spoofing the real Equifax settlement page. So if you click on the link in the email, you are sent to a very convincing web page encouraging you to file a claim. Of course, if you fill in their form with all of your personal information you are just sending your data to the criminals.
If you need to file a claim, do so by visiting the FTC website. You can find information there about the data breach and the settlement as well as a legitimate link to the Equifax site. Do not click on any links in any email that appears to come from Equifax. Visit their site directly using a browser search result or a bookmark. Everything that you need to know you should be able to find there. If not, there will be legitimate contact information you can safely use.
How to create emails that don’t look malicious – 07/26/19
Communicating with everyone on campus is challenging. A lot of work goes into what information should be included, making sure the email is as succinct as possible and making it easy for the readers to act on your request. Unfortunately, we often have these emails reported as phishing emails or they are deleted by readers.
So how do you create an email that makes it easy for the reader to act without making them think you are trying to steal their data? It is a delicate balancing act. Fortunately, there are some guidelines you can follow.
First, make sure that people can verify the legitimacy of the email, by including the name of a contact person at Mount Royal that can be found in the directory. That way if someone is not sure about an email, they can just call the contact person and confirm that the email is legitimate. This is especially important if the email is coming from a third party.
Second, if you are using a tool to track who clicks on what in the email, make sure the URL that appears when you hover over the links looks like a Mount Royal URL. If you are not sure, contact the IT Service Desk and ask them for help. We can work with your tool vendor to make sure your links look legitimate.
Third, avoid including links if you can. Instead of using links, type out the Mount Royal URL or tell them where on mtroyal.ca they can find the information. Stay away from URLs that look vague, are excessively long or do not send readers to a G suite or mtroyal.ca webpage. Even better, include the relevant information in the email itself.
Fourth, do not use your personal email address for Mount Royal correspondence. Anything not coming from an official Mount Royal email address will be considered suspicious.
Next, if you are using a tool to send the email make sure that the sender’s email address appears as a legitimate Mount Royal address. If your tool does not allow you to do that, contact the IT Service Desk. We can work with most vendors to fix that.
Lastly, avoid including other phishing red flags in your email such as generic salutations, a sense of urgency, triggering emotions and asking people to do something against established procedures.
By following these simple guidelines you will greatly decrease the chances readers will report or trash your email instead of acting on it. If you are planning on sending out a campus wide email and you aren’t sure if it will get flagged as malicious or not, please contact the IT Service Desk and ask for help. We would be happy to preview the email and let you know if anything needs to be changed.
Happy emailing!!
Scammers targeting MRU are getting very creative – 07/17/19
In September last year, the first of several targeted email scams arrived in Mount Royal inboxes. Since that time we have see a plethora of these scams spread across campus. Up to now that have all been emails from a supervisor asking a report to do a favor for them.
However, we must have ended up on some “the Best People to Scam” list as this week the scams have gotten very creative. First up is a dude in Indonesia contacting Wellness Services to help him sell a helicopter (I actually think this might be legit). Second up is an email to the MRFA insisting a charge from their store has appeared on a bank statement (definitely not legit). Check out the pics!!
As entertaining as these emails are, that is not the reason why I am sharing them with you (well maybe a little bit). I am sharing them to give you a heads ups that MRU is being actively targeted and we all need to be on our toes. If you receive any email that is out of the ordinary, please take a closer look at it. If you aren’t sure if it is malicious, forward it to abuse@mtroyal.ca like your colleagues did and we can take a look. Everyone who reports an email gets a cool sticker. Be a superhero and report those malicious emails!
Fake benefits enrollment email arriving in MRU inboxes – 06/28/19
The following email is showing up in inboxes around campus.
This fake email is not from the IT Service Desk. Normally I would go through and show you all the things that are wrong with this email. However, as many of you have been readers for a while, I thought it would be nice to have some fun with this one.
Take a look at the email and then comment below on what you think flags this email as phishing. Next Thursday, I will go through the comments and add any that were missed. Let the commenting begin!
New email scam impersonates MRFA president – 06/26/19
The following email showed up in MRU inboxes this week.
There are two things that make this email so convincing. First Melanie’s email address is, in fact, correct. No, her email wasn’t compromised. It was spoofed. Second, they name a colleague as the person who will reimburse you. A nice touch actually. With such a convincing email, how the heck are you supposed to know this is a scam? Well, there are a few tells.
First off, the grammar is rather crappy. Not what you would expect from the president of the MRFA. Second, if you try calling Melanie to confirm she sent the email, you get a phone message saying the MRFA office is closed and she isn’t returning messages. If the office is closed, why would she be sending money to vendors? Third there is a sense of urgency. The email says the money needs to be transferred today. Lastly, she is asking you to take money from your personal account. That is a HUGE red flag. Why on earth would she ask you to take money from your personal account to pay a vendor? Nothing makes sense in this email except the email address and name dropping.
The best way to protect yourself from this type of a scam, is to go slow and question everything. If something doesn’t add up, call the email sender to confirm that they sent the message. If you aren’t sure you can forward the message to abuse@mtroyal.ca and we will take a look at it for you.
That is just what Megan did. Thanks to her quick actions, we were able to track down those who received this message, notify them it was a scam and stop the attack in its tracks. Way to go Megan, you are a superhero!! Be a superhero like Megan, report malicious emails to abuse@mtroyal.ca and help protect your colleagues from scammers and hackers.
For Megans efforts, she will be receiving a commitment sticker. Want your own sticker? Report an malicious email to abuse@mtroyal.ca or come down to see me on Main Street on August 20th from 10:00 am to 2:00 pm. Pick up your sticker and spin the prize wheel to win cool swag.
Reply to emails cautiously – 05/22/19
Since September, the Mount Royal community has been targeted by a gift card scam. With this scam, criminals send you an email that looks like it comes from your supervisor asking you if you are available. If you respond, they ask you to purchase gift cards and send them photos of the redemption codes. This past weekend another 300 or so Mount Royal inboxes received one of these scam emails.
Fortunately, we had more people reporting them than we had people responding to them. Some of those that did respond sent out personal information such as where they were located, photos and their plans for the weekend. To our knowledge, no one went as far as purchasing gift cards. We are thankful for that.
Realizing that you gave scammers personal information about yourself just feels creepy. It is also dangerous. The criminals can then take that information and use it as content in malicious emails that are sent to yourself or others. This makes the emails seem legitimate increasing the likely hood that someone will be tricked.
In addition to being dangerous, conversing with the scammers encourages them to continue targeting Mount Royal. If they get a response to an email, they know it is only a matter of time before they convince someone to follow through and purchase those gift cards. Ignoring their inquiries will not stop the attempts, but it will reduce their frequency.
The best way to defend yourself from giving out personal information to criminals is to check the sender’s email address before you read the body of the email. That way you have a better idea of who you are talking to before you respond. They may still be a hacker, but the odds are much smaller. Just by taking this small simple step you greatly reduce your chances of sharing information that you wish you hadn’t.
Is it spam or is it phishing? 05/23/19
I am truly delighted with the number of malicious emails that are being forwarded to abuse@mtroyal.ca. The Mount Royal community is doing a great job of letting us know what to look for and helping us defend their data. There is one question that people keep asking though, what is the difference between Spam and a phishing email? I thought I would take a moment to clarify.
Spam email
- Goal is to sell you something.
- It is sent to hundreds or thousands of people at a time.
- Reading the email does not generate an emotional response.
- It may or may not contain links
- Clicking on the links will take you to the organizations website.
Phishing email
- Goal is to steal your data or use your workstation as a tool to access data on other people’s devices.
- It can be sent to thousands of people or just one or two.
- Reading the email generates an emotional response.
- It may or may not contain links and or attachments.
- Clicking on the link or opening an attachment takes you to a fake web page and/or loads malware onto your device.
The easiest way to determine if what you are dealing with is spam or phishing is by examining the purpose of the email. If it looks like they are trying to sell you something, then it is probably spam. If it looks like they are trying to confuse or trick you, then it is likely phishing.
Spam emails should be marked as spam by clicking the stop sign icon in the Gmail menu bar. Phishing emails should be forwarded to abuse@mtroyal.ca. If you aren’t sure which one it is, forward it to abuse@mtroyal.ca and we can let you know.
Fake package tracking email found in MRU inbox – 05/14/19
The latest phishing attempt is quite lovely. The criminals have made it purposely vague with the hope that it will peak your curiosity. Here is what is looks like.
If you have recently ordered something online. curiosity could get the better of you. If you click the link, this is what you find.
You were promised a PDF, which is usually but not always safe to open. However, you are given a Word document instead. It’s the old bait and switch. Having navigated to this point safely, you are more likely download the document. Of course if you do, malware is downloaded with it.
Remember troops, stop and think before you click. Stay safe out there.