Email Phishing Scams Hit SSU
Several email phishing scams have recently been sent to many SSU email accounts. Phishing is an illegal and fraudulent attempt to acquire sensitive information. These messages purport to be from Sonoma State University, and solicit a response with your name and password. They are not legitimate email. Do not respond to such email because you will be putting your Seawolf ID (aka LDAP ID) at risk. If you respond, the message is sent to an off-site address. Instead, just delete the message.
Usually, it is easy to spot phishing scams because they ask for information in a way that SSU never does.
SSU never:
- asks you to email us your username and password,
- asks you to visit a non-sonoma.edu website to supply your LDAP password, or other sensitive information,
- refers to itself as "Sonoma College" or other non-standard names for the University.
Sonoma State University does not solicit this type of information from campus users via email. These types of "phishing" scams are being aimed at universities around the world. Like most universities, Sonoma's spam filters remove most phishing scams, but it sometimes takes a while to adjust to new ones.
What SSU Will Send You
Sonoma State's IT department will periodically send an email message advising that your Seawolf password is about to expire. That message will direct you to https://ldaps.sonoma.edu/password/. Always check the address in the location bar of your browser. Any other address is bogus.
For more information, please see Safe Email Practices.If you have any questions or concerns, please contact the IT Helpdesk at 664-HELP (4357) or via email at helpdesk@sonoma.edu.
Posted by mooreb at April 28, 2008 12:49 PM