Cybersecurity Phishing Awareness Notification
February 7, 2022 3:04 PM

Since Friday, February 4, we have experienced a series of phishing campaigns that successfully targeted students, faculty, and staff email accounts.  

We would like to remind everyone to be vigilant and careful with email. Cybercriminals are constantly seeking to compromise your account, steal your data, steal your money, or worse, steal your identity.  If you clicked on these links or opened the attachments, please change your password immediately.

The most recent phishing examples discuss job opportunities, full inboxes, or ask people to click on links or open attachments, but these messages are evolving and can use many tactics to encourage you to interact with an email message.  

If an email asks for personal information (full name, mailing address, phone number, etc.) do not provide it. If an email describes an offer that seems too good to be true, it probably is. If an email from an unknown sender contains a link, an attachment, or misspellings, use extra caution.  

Simply put, if it looks strange or out of the ordinary, delete it. Report it to the Help Desk at consult@illinois.edu or report it to an IT Professional.  

The University of Illinois offers cybersecurity training and awareness to all employees and students to help the university community learn good habits and stay safer online. Training is available at https://go.uillinois.edu/securitytraining (log in required). 

Information about security training can be found in the campus knowledge base, https://answers.illinois.edu including validation of the security training link, https://answers.uillinois.edu/95064. As always be cautious about links in email.  

 
Sincerely,  

Chuck Geigner  
Interim Chief Privacy & Security Officer