As the use of technology to store personal information has become increasingly prevalent in society, the number of fraudulent users taking advantage of this phenomenon have skyrocketed. A common practice among internet hackers is “phishing,” which is an illegal practice that targets victims by email, telephone or text to help obtain information, such as credit card details, usernames and passwords.
St. Bonaventure University has fallen victim to this malpractice multiple times in the past several years, most recently this school year. Hackers sent emails to dozens of students that appeared to look like normal mail, but the goal of the email is to entice students to click a link or to input their login information. Once this is done, their information is vulnerable to the phishing attack. Oftentimes, the compromised accounts are then used to send out more phishing emails, creating a chain reaction. Because such email attacks are so common, St. Bonaventure University’s technology department has implemented a system that helps to counteract the intrusion.
“Our systems are able to detect it when someone gets successfully phished and automatically shut the email account down,” said associate provost and chief information officer Michael Hoffman. “We then usually reach out to the victim and begin mitigation.”
The downfall to a system like the one utilized by St. Bonaventure is that it serves as a countermeasure and is unable to prevent future attacks from plaguing the campus. Hoffman said that the best possible way to ease the phishing problem is to practice safe computing.
“What we’re trying to do is educate people on the risks of email,” stressed Hoffman. “Being very wary of clicking links in email, even if it looks like it’s coming from someone you know, is the best preventative measure.”
There are certain signs that an email may be corrupted, including spelling mistakes or messages that are outlandish or seem too good to be true. But in recent years, such attackers have gained sophistication, making it even harder to detect an issue.
However, Hoffman explained the best way to combat this. “If you have a concern about an email, even if it looks legitimate, one simple thing to do is Google the subject line and a lot of times if it’s a phishing email that’s been reported to a database, Google will show this in your search.”
Despite the troubling information that accompanies phishing attacks at St. Bonaventure, preventative and counteractive measures can help to alleviate the problem.
By Julia Schneider, Staff Writer
schneije18@bonaventure.edu
