OUHSC Information Technology Department

Spear Phishing Alert
Thursday, October 08, 2009 - Information Security

Spear Phishing Alert:

A spear phishing email message often uses relevant information targeted at a specific group of people to make the message seem more legitimate. As the holiday season rapidly approaches, we expect to see an increase in these messages.

An easy way to identify any phishing message you might receive is it will arrive as an unsolicited email asking for personal information such as your username, password, address, or other personally identifiable information. The University of Oklahoma will never ask you for personal information over email and you should never share your personal information with an unknown source. University policy prohibits sharing your username and password with anyone.

If you receive an email that appears to be a phishing email, please delete the message immediately. If you have questions about its legitimacy, please feel free to contact IT at Servicedesk@ouhsc.eduor 405-271-2203.

See example spear phishing message below:

> ________________________________________

> From: University of Oklahoma <info.web@ouhsc.edu

> >

> Sent: Wednesday, October 07, 2009 3:32 AM

> To: .@l.l

> Subject: Please Confirm.

> Attn: OU account user.

> Please be informed that we will be upgrading our system in a couple

> of days from now and your account needs to be reactivated, to

> complete your account activation you must reply to us

> Immediately and enter your valid account details as requested below.

> First Name:

> Last Name:

> User Name/ID

> Pass-word:

> Phone number:

> You are required to do this before the next 48 hours of receipt of

> this email or your account will be erased and de-activated from our

> database.

> You will be sent an account activation code to the account details

> you provide in next seven (7)

> Working days after undergoing this process for security reasons.

> Thank you for using ouhsc.edu.

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