Email safety: Phishing awareness

Phishing scams continue to be prevalent on campus, with several targeted events occurring this week.

The Auburn Family is encouraged to be aware and not take the bait. Phishing is when criminals use an email message to lure you into action by clicking on links, unknowingly installing malware, opening infected documents or handing over personal information.

Some quick tips on how to identify a phishing email include:

• The email contains an offer that is too good to be true

• Use of language that is urgent, alarming or threatening

• The message is poorly written and contains misspellings and bad grammar

• Greetings that are ambiguous or very generic

• Includes requests to send personal information

• Urgency to click on an unfamiliar link or attachment

• Strange or abrupt business requests

• The sending email address does not match the sending organization

• The email seems to come from a trusted source, such as a person of authority in the organization, but meets some of the red flags listed above

What to do if you have received a suspicious email:

If you receive a suspicious email sent to your Auburn account, report the message to the OIT Security team by clicking the “Report Message” icon in Outlook, Outlook Mobile App or the “Report > Report Phishing” button in Outlook Web App.

If you receive a suspicious email on your personal email account (ex. Gmail, Yahoo, etc.), do not reply to the email or click on any links (not even the unsubscribe link) within the email and just delete it.

If have questions or suspect that you have clicked on a link within a suspicious message, please contact the IT Service Desk at itservicedesk@auburn.edu or 334.844.4944.