Email Safety

What to watch out for:

Hoax email, social media messages or unfamiliar URLs or Links

Subjects include interesting topics to capture curious victims

• Current news stories
• Requests for charity, especially helping war victims
• Sign an online petition
• Answer a survey

Cyber criminals use hoax emails and social media messages to trick recipients into installing malware on their computers. This malware can collect information from the infected computer and allow criminals to remotely control the computer.

How do you protect yourself?  - Prevention is more important than ever!

Beware of any E-mail that:

• Requires you to enter any personal information or account information directly
  into the email or sends you to a web page that asks for similar information.
• Threatens to close your account if you do not take the immediate
  action of providing personal information.
• Asks you to reply by sending personal information or asks you to enter your User ID,
  password, or account numbers into an e-mail or non-secure web page.

Beware of unfamiliar URLs or links embedded in E-mails or when browsing the WEB:

• Don’t click on any links or open files included in unsolicited emails or social media messages.
• Be careful were you surf! “drive by malware” can infect your computer just by browsing the malicious website.
• Frequently change your Internet Service account passwords. Use multifactor authentication
  were available.
• Carefully review your account history for suspicious transactions and report them immediately
  to the service provider.
• Keep your Anti-Virus software up to date.

If you suspect the attacker has captured sensitive information:

• Change all effected  passwords immediately.
• Monitor your account activity frequently.
• Report any suspicious activity to the IT Helpdesk.