Weber State University Latest to be Targeted with Malicious E-mails

Weber County, Utah, USA based Weber State University (WSU) through its IT (Information Technology) department has cautioned staff members, students and teachers regarding malevolent e-mails making the rounds in the campus, published wsusignpost.com dated September 3, 2015.

Crafted for seizing users' sensitive information, the current scam electronic mails gain login as well as private details in what IT personnel describe the scheme as phishing.

According to Information Security Manager of WSU, Andrea Grover, phishing refers to that practice in which someone gets an e-mail which asks for that person's personal information. Wsusignpost.com published this dated September 3, 2015.

Ms. Grover says that when schools' new session starts, there occurs a voluminous flow of the said kind of e-mail frauds. She further says that normally at the semester's start, the number of such e-mails is even more that starts receding with the continuation of the semester.

Information Technology as well as Risk Analysts John Bullough and Andrea Grover enumerate the tell-tale signs that are typical of scam e-mails such as poor grammar, incorrect spellings, generic salutation (like addressing various parties - student, staff and faculty), bad web-links and making the e-mail appear critical. Wsusignpost.com published this.

One recipient of the scam e-mail at WSU freshman Alika Smith stated that the message and similar ones reached her mailbox when she was at work. The messages' chief tell-tale sign was their bad grammar while their senders were people she didn't know, she highlighted.

Disturbingly, like Weber State University during August 2015 which had alerted pupils about scam electronic mails masquerading as the institution, another warning was also sent out from New York's University at Buffalo during the end-week of August 2015.

Officials at the University of Buffalo reported that they cautioned pupils about one fake e-mail seeking recipients' personal details, while it even warned that students' e-mail accounts would be suspended and that they would have them restored if only they would provide the personal details. Wivb.com published this dated August 25, 2015.

The University's Information Technology officials advised the students that they must erase the e-mail as well as block its sending source.

» SPAMfighter News - 9/15/2015