Email phishing is one of the most prevalent attacks directed at Drake – over 100 million phishing emails are sent each year to drake.edu addresses. That’s why ITS works to educate faculty, staff, and students on how to avoid these attacks designed to convince us to give away our information.

One goal of phishing is to coerce recipients to download or open malicious attachments and files. This specially crafted software runs on your computer, giving a foothold into the network. To help combat this threat, ITS routinely updates internet browsers and other susceptible software. Depending on the update, this may cause the software to restart. Please contact the Drake Support Center if you ever need assistance with updating computer software.

We’ll be distributing another phishing education scenario this month. These phishing email look-alikes provide information about how to spot malicious emails in a risk-free environment.

When you encounter an email you don’t recognize, always slow down and look carefully for red flags that give away its intent before acting. Report suspicious emails.

—Peter Lundstedt, ITS