No one is immune to phishing attacks, not even you. Targeted phishing attempts are increasing worldwide, even on NC State’s campus. Hackers often use the start of a semester to send specific phishing email to university students and employees to trick them into providing data to validate their accounts in order to attend class, pay bills or change payroll information.
You should never click on these (or any) types of phishing email or suspicious links to websites.
As demonstrated by recent high-profile incidents, database hacks also bring a great deal of opportunity for phishing attacks. As a target of a phishing attack, you may be asked to “log in to download the list of hacked accounts” or to “log in to see if you’re on it.” Hackers may even attempt to extort money from you. Keep your guard up and never click on these phishing emails or suspicious URLs.
If you have created an account on any website that has been breached, you should change the account password immediately. If you use the same password to access other accounts, including your university accounts, change the password on those accounts, too.
Remember that no one from the Office of Information Technology (OIT) or any NC State department will send you an email requesting your password or verification of your credentials.
For more information on how to protect yourself from phishing scams, see OIT’s Phishing website (http://oit.ncsu.edu/email/
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