If you are the owner of an Apple product like an iPhone, iPad or MacBook and have an AppleID, then please be aware of a phishing scam currently making the rounds. It targets university personnel (using university usernames – including student numbers)

The subject lines will be “Account Suspension Notification” or “Account Activity Notification” and will tell you that because AppleID account has been logged in from “multiple locations and different countries” your account has been suspended, and you need to log in using your AppleID to reactivate your account on Apple.

Now, if you don’t have an Apple product, this would be something to ignore and spot as a phishing scam, but if you do have an Apple product you might *panic* and click on the link.

This is exactly what the scammers want you to do. You would be taken to a forged website that looks like the Apple Login page and asked to type in your Apple ID username and password. That is what the scammers are after! They can then access your real AppleID account and steal information, credit cards details etc.

1. Don’t open links inside emails, especially if you’re not 100% sure who sent it.
2. if you’re about to click on a link from a company as reputable as Apple, It will always have a customer service department you can contact. You can ask if Apple has sent you a link requesting updated contact information. Or better yet, log into your Apple account; click on the Manage My Apple ID tab, to make sure your information is up to date.
3. Ensure you have up-to-date antivirus and malware/anti-phishing software installed on your computer.

[Article by David Wiles]

With the graduation just around the corner and most students already on holiday, and many of our colleagues already taking a well-deserved break, and collectively we all tend to be a little less vigilant.

The end of the year vacation period is generally a time when phishing attacks on our email accounts drop, and it is speculated that the phishers know there are significantly fewer employees working during the holidays, so there are fewer opportunities for targeted users to actually open malicious attachments.

However spear-phishing attacks increase when the Information technology and “cyber-security”  centres of large enterprises like the university security operations are lightly staffed or understaffed. The scammers know that there is a greater chance for them to gain access to accounts via spear-phishing as the “watchdogs” are fewer.

What is spear-phishing?

Spear-phishing is a targeted form of phishing in which fraudulent emails are sent to specific individuals at an institution like the university in an effort to gain access to confidential information. Often a trustworthy entity is impersonated that uses “urgent” language to requesting sensitive information or actions.

[In August this year the MacEwan University in Canada was targeted when a series of fraudulent emails convinced MacEwan University staff to change electronic banking information for one of the university’s major vendors, resulting in $11.8 million being transferred to criminals.]

The following spear-phishing e-mail is appearing in some student and personnel accounts and it seems to be targeting university accounts specifically as the salutation is a personal name: (in this case your e-mail address, or in some cases your display name in e-mail e.g Wiles, David <dw@sun.ac.za>

The mail will look like this:

~~~

Please be aware of this spear-phishing scam. No university department or division will ever ask you for passwords via e-mail.

[ARTICLE BY DAVID WILES]