FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – Computer phishing scams are nothing new: Since November 2007, University of Arkansas computer users have been under constant attack from Internet scam artists. Everyone in the university community should be aware of the threat of criminals trying to trick them into revealing their usernames and passwords.
Each of these phishing scams look different. Some scams say users are over e-mail quota; others ask to verify their account information; a phishing message may say the e-mail system is undergoing maintenance and request a reply to the message, or ask you to click on a Web site link which is outside of the uark.edu domain.
One thing is the same: All phishing scams ask for password information. Legitimate administrative notices from the University of Arkansas will not ask for this information or direct users to an off-campus Web site or Web link.
It is important for all e-mail users to be aware of phishing scams and not provide username or password information to any unfamiliar account. Anyone receiving a suspicious e-mail asking for this kind of information should forward it to abuse@uark.edu.
Phishing scams are designed to allow e-mail spammers to access accounts that cannot be traced to them. They use this stolen access to gain access to sensitive data or to send out tens of thousands of spam messages to e-mail accounts all over the world.
Not only does phishing create problems for the individuals receiving the spam, it also creates a large problem for the university as well. It can take as few as one or two compromised e-mail accounts to affect all e-mail users’ ability to send e-mail off campus, negatively impacting the operations of the entire university for days.
University of Arkansas Information Technology Services continually monitors for compromised accounts and signs of these spammers, but it can take a few hours before staff members notice any problems and respond to these issues. In that time the spammers may have done their damage.
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Contact:
Scott Fendley, senior information technology security analyst
Information Technology Services
575-2905, security@uark.edu
Steve Voorhies, manager, media relations
University Relations
479-575-3583, voorhies@uark.edu
