Pro Tips: Staying Safe & Secure

Don't Get Hooked: Avoiding Phishing

"Phishing is a form of social engineering and a scam where attackers deceive people into revealing sensitive information or installing malware such as viruses, worms, adware, or ransomware. Phishing attacks have become increasingly sophisticated and often transparently mirror the site being targeted, allowing the attacker to observe everything while the victim navigates the site, and transverses any additional security boundaries with the victim."  -- Wikipedia

You've probably heard of phishing. If you check your email's spam folder, you'll probably find more than one phishing message . Some general tips to be aware of:

• College students are particular targets for "research opportunity" or "research assistant"-type scams, typically purporting to be from a professor. The best defense is to contact the faculty member directly about purported opportunities.
• It's a cliche, but it's completely on point: If it sounds too good to be true, it usually is.
• Beware of anyone asking you to buy gift cards! No reputable individual or organization will do this.
• Keep your private information private. Don't share your location, address, phone number, etc. on your socials (yes, even in DMs). Set your social apps to never include location data in photos, too.
• Suspicious message? Contact the claimed sender directly to confirm (either in person or using a known-good contact methods...never click a link or call a number in a sus message.