News

Information Security and Policy has received confirmed reports of recent attempts to deliver the "Locky" family of Ransomware via malicious email attachments. Campus users are advised to be vigilant as Ransomware like Locky can be extremely destructive. Please review the full security alert for guidance.

This is an example of how phishing messages can be made to look like they are from a legitimate business, such as PayPal. However, poor grammar and other indicators make this an easy phish to spot.

A phishing message purporting to be from the International Rescue Committee regarding IT maintenance has been circulating on campus. The message requests that the recipient upgrade their mailbox size by selecting a link that redirects to a malicious website.

An email message purporting to be from Apple Support, requesting that the recipient verify their account information, has been seen in several variations on campus.

Adobe has released security updates for Adobe Flash Player that addresses multiple, critical vulnerabilities that could allow an attacker to take control of an affected system. Microsoft has released an out-of-band patch for Adobe Flash Player when on all supported editions of Windows 8.1, Windows Server 2012, Windows Server 2012 R2, Windows RT 8.1, and Windows 10.

This phish is an example of how poorly most culprits have taken steps to disguise the message - it is often the case that phishing messages are originally drafted for another school or school district.

The OpenSSL development team published a security advisory regarding high-impact TLS/SSL vulnerabilities, which could allow an attacker to decrypt TLS sessions by using a server supporting legacy ciphers (CVE-2016-0800).

Another example of a common ploy to trick the recipient into clicking a link to a malicious website by claiming access to ITunes has been disabled.

The glibc (since version 2.9) DNS client side resolver is vulnerable to a stack-based buffer overflow when the getaddrinfo() library function is used. Software using this function may be remotely exploited with attacker-controlled domain names, attacker-controlled DNS servers, or through a man-in-the-middle attack.

An example of a common phishing ploy - a notice that your email password will expire, with a link to change the password that leads to a malicious website.

As the year's tax deadline approaches, tax scams start ratcheting up, especially by phone.  Some of the most common scams involve con-artists who pretend to be from the IRS and call victims telling them they have to pay right now, or else. 

Don't believe it - the IRS has formal processes in place for people with tax issues and harassing calls like these are not how the IRS does business.  The IRS will NEVER:

Another example of a phish that attempts to trick the user to click on a link to a malicious website by claiming their password will expire otherwise. This one purports to come from the IT-Service Help Desk.

Campus was the target of a phishing email purporting to be from the U.S. Dept of Labor and asking for users to update their employment records. Beware of emails with the subject line "Record Update".

Several people on campus fell for this phish, which directed the recipient to a fake CalNet login page where credentials were stolen. Beware of tax-related phishing exploits, like this one, during this time of year.

This spear phishing attack was targeted to campus academic staff. The recipient was asked to share access to research articles, but the embedded link was routed to a fake CalNet login page.

This is a forgery example of a commonly used service provider, PayPal. The intent is to fool the recipient into clicking the link directed to a malware infected webpage.