Cyber Awareness

Phishing

Phishing is a cyber crime where well designed and legitimate looking emails and pop up messages lure victims into revealing their username, password, credit card number, Social Security number, or other sensitive information.  Even though the problem is not new, there never seems to be a shortage of victims

The Phishing messages used look authentic to the kind of communication you would expect to get from institutions you trust.  Messages used in Phishing scams often are identical from those used by the banks, schools, and merchants you deal with.  However, you should never trust email or pop up messages that ask you to confirm, validate, or update your information by responding to the email or by following a link. The Virginia Tech community is not immune to Phishing attempts. 

Virginia Tech will never send a message to you asking you to validate, confirm, or update your personal information and passwords.

Good Advice

Never respond to messages that ask you verify, update, or validate information they should already have.

• Never reply to any message of email that asks for your PID, password, account information, or anything else that would be considered sensitive.
• Never click on a link in a message or pop up.
• Never call phone numbers that are provided in messages that ask for personnel information.
• Keep your anti-virus software up to date and your firewall up to date.  Even though anti-virus cannot stop you from simply telling someone your personal information, it may protect from malicious software installations.