Information Services have detected a rise in phishing emails related to COVID-19 and Coronavirus. We have seen one particular email making the rounds yesterday and early this morning with the subject line: “Covid-19 Virus Update: A Document was sent to you for review”.
This email is not genuine and is designed to steal your University username and password. We urge everyone to be vigilant and to never click on links or attachments from unexpected sources.
We have labelled the phishing email below to help you spot the tell-tale signs of a scam:
The advice in the image is as follows:
- Phishing emails can originate from university accounts that have been compromised. It does not mean that they are genuine. The University/HR would never send official emails from student accounts.
- Cybercriminals are exploiting fears over Covid-19 to prompt a reaction. Be wary of emails with subject lines that call you to action (open a link, review a document, confirm your details, etc).
- Always check the details of the email. Scams are often easy to spot because of incorrect information, bad spelling or bad grammar.
- Information Services will never ask you to supply or confirm your credentials via a link.
- Be wary of the sender – ask yourself, were you expecting an email from this person? Would it be normal for an email from HR to come from a student account?
Information Services have taken action to remove the email from circulation and prevent further instances. If you see any new instances of this email arrive in your mailbox, please report it to the Information Centre on infocentre@stir.ac.uk
If you have clicked on the link or entered your credentials, change your password immediately using the “change password” link in the Portal.
You can view more information about how to spot phishing emails on our IS News Blog.