IT Notice – MY SMU Maintenance Phishing Attempt

Image Ian Aberle

Phishing message example:

Screenshot of phishing notice.
Email Text: Concerns regarding account
Dear Valued User ,
We received a request from you to terminate your Office 365 email due to a dual college/universities account. This process has begun by our administrator. If you did not authorize this action and you have no knowledge of it, you are advised to re-verify your account. Please give us 24 hours to terminate your account if you initiated the request. Failure to re-verify will result in the closure of your account and you will lose all of my files on these 365 accounts.
Browse the URL Below into the address bar of your web browser to re-verify and cancel the request

Clues that it is a phishing message:

  • The sender is not from OIT.
  • The recipient is not listed directly, but blind copied.
  • The URL is for a third-party URL shortener, which OIT does not use.
  • The email is pressuring with its sense of urgency.
  • There is no signature or contact information.