A recent phishing attempt targeted hundreds of university users early Tuesday morning. The message asked individuals to click on a link to verify their email address and appeared to come from IT Services.

This message was not legitimate. IT Services will never ask users to verify information through email.

IT Services will never ask for personal information such as passwords or social security numbers. Personal data should never be shared through email or with any organization without verifying the authenticity first.

Users who receive phishing messages should use the Report Phishing and Junk email button in Outlook and web Outlook. Using this feature automatically sends the message to the security team within IT Services so action can be taken. Reporting also improves the intelligence of our spam filter for the future.

IT Services has taken numerous steps recently to address phishing, including the introduction of KnowBe4, a security platform to raise awareness of phishing.

Remember that the university will never request user information in an email. If you provided personal information through a suspicious email or to validate the legitimacy of email correspondence claiming to come from the U of A, contact the IT Help Desk at 479-575-2905.