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]

We’ve had a couple of reports from personnel and students about getting messages with a subject of “Your Email Address Has Been Compromised” (notice the capitalisation of every word, which is one of the signs of phishing)

The scammers have spoofed the recipient (your e-mail address to read info@verify.com) and the sender seems to come from a compromised university account in the USA (address end with an .edu)

The subject says: “Your Email Address Has Been Compromised” and a link Verify HERE is included which takes you to a website ending with a “weebly.com”. It looks already as if the website is offline or has already been blocked by Information Technology, but you should never click on links in mail if the sender is unknown.

Keep in mind, Information Technology will never send you such a mail, telling you that your e-mail address has been compromised. All IT’s communications are bilingual and will always address you personally.

If you get mail like this and you are not sure if it is legitimate or not, you should never click links or respond but rather contact IT telephonically at 808 4367 to verify. 

Information Technology will send you an automated mail IF you have changed your password on the network that is branded, is bilingual, and informs you of a password change, but it is always better to check and make sure especially if you HAVEN’T changed your password or don’t recall if you have changed your password.

Here is an example of the current phishing scam.

If you have received mail that looks like this please immediately report it to the Information Technology Security Team using the following method:

Send the spam/phishing mail to the following addresses

help@sun.ac.za

…and sysadm@sun.ac.za as well.

 Attach the phishing or suspicious mail on to the message if possible. There is a good tutorial on how to do this at the following link (Which is safe) : http://stbsp01.stb.sun.ac.za/innov/it/it-help/Wiki%20Pages/Spam%20sysadmin%20Eng.aspx

1. Start up a new mail addressed to sysadm@sun.ac.za (CC: help@sun.ac.za)
2. Use the Title “SPAM” (without quotes) in the Subject.
3. With this New Mail window open, drag the suspicious spam/phishing mail from your Inbox into the New Mail Window. It will attach the mail as an enclosure and a small icon with a light yellow envelope will appear in the attachments section of the New Mail.
4. Send the mail.

If you did click on the link of this phishing spam and unwittingly give the scammers your username, e-mail address and password you should immediately go to http://www.sun.ac.za/useradm and change the passwords on ALL your university accounts (making sure the new password is completely different, and is a strong password that will not be easily guessed.) as well as changing the passwords on your social media and private e-mail accounts (especially if you use the same passwords on these accounts.)