UBC Okanagan is currently seeing a noticeable increase in the frequency of phishing and malware messages targeting UBC email addresses.
Phishing and malware emails usually contain elements of the following:
- They threaten to shut down your email account due to quota limits
- Claims that there have been changes to your payroll or payroll schedule
- Messages claiming that an invoice has not been paid, which have Microsoft Word or Excel files attached
- Unsolicited messages from a UBC service that require you to take an action such as clicking a link and filling in your account information
- Unsolicited messages containing attachments or links coming from UBC or non-UBC email addresses
If you receive an email that you think is a phishing and malware message, do not click on any links until you can confirm the legitimacy of the email and its sender. This is especially true if the message relates to resetting a password.
If you think a message is malicious then forward it to security@ubc.ca as soon as possible.
You can always find bulletins about the latest email attacks on the IT, Media and Classroom Services homepage’s News and & Updates section (it.ok.ubc.ca).
