Phishing campaign and new reporting method to begin soon

Phishing is an attempt to acquire personal information such as usernames, passwords and credit card details by masquerading as a trustworthy entity in an electronic communication, typically by email, voice or text.

One of the ways that cyber criminals attack users is to send phishing emails to entice the recipient into providing personal information or to download malware to their machines which can impact the entire Auburn network. Therefore, in addition to annual cybersecurity training, Auburn University will begin to conduct phishing exercises (training) to measure the adherence to safe cybersecurity practices. This training includes sending emails that should be recognized by the users as fraudulent. The goal of these exercises is employee training, and the individual results of the training will not be shared with management.

This testing will begin in November and will be a staggered approach that will continue indefinitely. Not everyone will receive these emails at the same time.

We are also rolling out a new “Report Phishing” button on Oct. 25. This button is the Office of Information Technology’s preferred method for reporting a suspected phishing scheme.

The new button is located under the “Report Message” dropdown menu on Outlook.

You can find more information about Cybersecurity and steps you can take to reduce Phishing at aub.ie/cybersecurity and then click on phishing.