I.T. would like to take this opportunity to remind users to be vigilant of the email messages that land in their inbox – especially those messages that ask you to divulge personal information. These messages are examples of phishing attacks. Phishing attacks use spoofed emails and fake web sites to fool the recipients into divulging personal information such as user names and passwords, credit card numbers, social insurance numbers, etc.
Sheridan Will Never Send You an Email Asking You to Divulge Account information
First and foremost you should know that Sheridan will NEVER send you an email asking you to divulge account details, or with links asking you to log into your account. The easiest way to protect yourself is to never respond to anyone who asks for personal information by email, even it is from a seemingly legitimate source.
Be suspicious of any email that:
- asks you to divulge personal information
- isn’t personalized (uses generic greetings such as ‘Dear Customer’)
- has links that don’t match what is displayed (when you hover over the link with your mouse)
- has a false sense of urgency
- is poorly written
We are currently gathering some examples of recent phishing messages that have been making the rounds and will soon be posting them on our phishing information page at:
I Think I’ve Been Hooked
If you happened to get ‘hooked’ by one of these messages, you should change your password immediately and contact Information Security.
When in doubt contact infosec@sheridancollege.ca for a second opinion.