Dear Students, Faculty and Staff:

With Summer upon us, University of Memphis Information Technology Services (ITS) would like to remind our campus community of the dangers of phishing emails.  Since the end of the Spring semester, ITS has seen an increase in successful phishing attempts across campus, resulting in compromised University accounts.  These phishing messages often use scare tactics to socially engineer you into giving away your user name and password or other personal information, either via email or fake websites.  The phishing messages often ask you to validate your account to keep it from being disabled, reference a system upgrade or email quota problem, or even make you believe that someone else has accessed your account.

So how can you separate phishing messages from legitimate emails?  Some phish are easy to spot – poor grammar and spelling errors can be a clue that it is not an official UofM message.  Messages referencing non-existent departments or “help desks” and email addresses or phone numbers unassociated with the UofM are other clues that the message may not be legitimate.  Always be wary of attachments, especially if the message is unexpected.  Hover over links in emails to ensure that they direct to a valid memphis.edu website or service.

If you receive an email message that has a suspicious link or attachment, or asks you for account details such as your username and password, you can report the message to ITS staff via email at abuse@memphis.edu or over the phone by calling the ITS Service Desk at (901) 678-8888. If you mistakenly open an attachment or provide your account details via email or to a non-UofM website, please contact the ITS Service Desk for further assistance.  Additional information regarding keeping your University account safe can be found at Memphis ITS Security.

Regards,

Robert