If you believe your information has been compromised, please call the ITS Helpdesk at (630) 844-5790.
Spam and phishing emails are becoming more prevalent than ever. Here are a few things to look out for and a few tips on how to spot these emails.
- Always double-check the email address of the sender.
- Often, spam senders will have a contact name that appears legitimate but will have an odd-looking email address.
- Even if the email is legitimate, the account could have been compromised. If this is the case, and the email seems suspicious, contact the user to verify.
- Always be wary of emails asking you to confirm your account credentials.
- Phishing attempts normally ask users to confirm their account credentials or have a button or link that brings them to a login prompt that appears to be normal. Always double-check the URL of the site you are brought to if you click one of these links. Often times, they appear a bit off.
- Hovering over the link/button lets you see along the bottom corner of your browser where the link is going even before you click it.
- If you're not expecting an email from a student or colleague and it appears a bit suspicious, find their contact information outside of the email and call them to confirm. Don't always trust a phone number listed in an email.
- Look for spelling/grammatical errors in the message.
- Never provide personal information over email, especially passwords.
- If you are familiar with the sender, but they don't seem to be familiar with you or their email doesn't look how you would expect, they might be an imposter.
- Pay attention to how they greet you, phrase their sentences, and sign their email. Does everything look normal?
- Though a bit rarer now, be on the lookout for suspicious files sent. Never open any document you were not expecting without confirming it is legitimate.
If you believe you have received a spam/phishing email, report it using the Phish Alert plugin in Outlook. To learn more about how to use this feature, refer to the Reporting Phishing and SPAM emails guide.