On Tuesday 24 October, IT Security sent a number of staff a simulated phishing email claiming HR shared a file with you. The Subject was ‘Holiday Entitlement Changes’ available through SharePoint, and contained a link to a Word document called Holiday Entitlement Changes. If you tried to open that document you were asked for your … Continue reading “Simulated Phishing Email of October 2023”
Category: Malicious Email
Phishing, Scams and Other Malicious email
Criminals are sending out millions of malicious emails every day. Often these are trying to steal your personal details, including your banking information or your University login details. Some might trick you into running malware on your phone, tablet, or computer. How do I spot these? Generally, if they look suspicious, they are. If something … Continue reading “Phishing, Scams and Other Malicious email”
Increase in Phishing Attacks
We have had a lot of phishing attacks recently, many coming from University staff and student accounts that have given their username and password in response to an earlier attack. A lot of people are responding to these. The wording varies, but all follow a very traditional pattern for phishing messages. They include emails telling … Continue reading “Increase in Phishing Attacks”
Covid variation of Gift Card Scam
Earlier this year we published an article on the Gift Card Scam. We have had a few reports of variations in this scam, tailored for the current Covid-19 crisis. One example email started with the following. “Good morning Peter, I’m planning to surprise some of the staffs with gifts during this unprecedented health crises, your … Continue reading “Covid variation of Gift Card Scam”
Gift Card Scam
Quite a few people have reported a scam that is becoming common on campus and some have reported losing hundreds of pounds of their own money to scammers. Scammers are sending email from various external email accounts claiming to be from senior members of departments. These are often highly targeted so that the person they … Continue reading “Gift Card Scam”
Blackmail Scam
We have been getting quite a few calls recently about messages trying to blackmail people. They allege that the recipient has been viewing pornographic sites, malware has been installed on the recipient’s computer and they have compromising recordings of the recipient that will be sent to friends and colleagues. For example: To make the message … Continue reading “Blackmail Scam”
Fake Fax Notifications
There are a number of emails circulating claiming to have fax messages attached. These contain word attachments which are infected with a macro virus. The messages are all from genuine senders who have been infected with the virus. If you receive any messages with attachments which are unexpected, please delete them and do not attempt … Continue reading “Fake Fax Notifications”
Important Message From Staff Portal
We have a huge number of reports of a phishing campaign which many people have recognised as such. Some, however, appear to have been taken in by this. Initial versions came from outside the University which were easy to spot as bogus. However, once some people had given their passwords away their accounts were then … Continue reading “Important Message From Staff Portal”
Fake Email Administrator Message
Quite a few people have received a message asking you to login to “reset” their email. This is something that IT services would never ask you to do. It is similar to others that have asked you “verify” your email. As it generated a few queries, I am posting an example with an explanation of … Continue reading “Fake Email Administrator Message”
Parcel Deliveries
There have been a lot of bogus emails claiming to be about parcel deliveries. We have given plenty of advice on spotting bogus messages, but this piece of simple advice should help avoid falling victim to even the most convincing scams. A lot of people now appreciate that if they are not expecting a parcel, … Continue reading “Parcel Deliveries”