Cooperative Extension IT

Over the past few months there has been a dramatic increase in the number of publicized and highly visible cyber attacks on various company and government websites. The news outlets have reported of attacks against Credit card companies, major electronics manufacturers, federal government entities, and a slew of other public and private websites.

Cyber criminals are taking advantage of this chaos and confusion by increasing the volume of Phishing attempts targeted at the general public. Some of these attempts seek to prey upon the misfortune of some of the aforementioned companies with targeted messages (ie: Your VISA account has been compromised. Please go to this website and fill out this form in order to reactivate your account!). Others seek to prey upon you by posing as your local IT or Service center, asking you for your username and password or other private information.

Neither the CES Helpdesk nor the UWEX Central IT service center will ever ask you for your username and password or private information via email. If you are ever in doubt as to whether an email is legitimate, please contact me directly, or the Helpdesk or Service center.

The following article from Microsoft goes into detail in regards to detecting and preventing Phishing attempts http://www.microsoft.com/security/online-privacy/phishing-symptoms.aspx

If you have questions please contact the help desk at 800.760.7610