These two words do NOT go together but I only add Love because it's Valentine's Day. I'll talk about Valentine's first. My wife and I celebrated Valentine's Day last weekend as this is when we had our available babysitter's (my In-Laws). During the week, I got to enjoy watching my daughter in the school's Valentine's Day program and hear her sing all of the songs. And of course today, we all have probably had too much candy but another great Valentine's day and week. I'm thankful for the Davis girls in my life.
And then there was Spam...
So a couple of days, we as in Technology services received some praise from Dr. Westmoreland regarding how well we all have handled some of the spam that has found its way through the mail filters, which can and will happen with any university and company. And of course, that same day some more spam in the form of a phishing scam found its way back onto campus. Now, I do NOT manage any of the spam here and I don't have that type of access and control. However, I do warn my colleagues whenever I'm aware of spam that might have gone out to the majority or all of CHS and because of that, I think that it is believed that we all manage the spam. Here are a few tips to use whenever you're viewing any suspicious emails.
1. PLEASE look carefully at the entire email and look at the sender address: Most of the time the sender's name is spoofed meaning that the sender's name is someone that you recognize but the actual address is a fake or someone else's address. This is really easy to miss when viewing your email from your phone but if you take time to look and scroll through the entire email, please view the sender's address before making a quick judgment call.
2. Read the entire email and check for grammar and misspellings: Most phishing scams will something that's not familiar in the subject or the body of the email. There are often some misspellings or bad grammar. It can go unnoticed because they're trying to hook you into responding or clicking on a link. Check the signature, as well as most if not all phishing and spam emails, will have some misspellings or the signature, will look different from the real sender's signature.
3. When in doubt ignore or delete: If you're just not sure about the email or feel funny about it. Then don't do anything. Just ignore it or forward it to an IT guy or whoever manages the email or spam. In my opinion, it's better to ignore than delete. Ignore shows the hacker or phishing scammer that you're either on to their scheme or you might not exist or be active. They're more likely to leave you alone.
I hope that these tips help and be careful out there!