Technology support team warns phishing email attacks in the Dominican University system.
Jill Albin-Hill, Vice President for Technology & Operation, said the perpetrator is not internal. She further corroborates that the phishing email attack started after the attacker accessed the password on a Dominican account.
IT first received reports of suspicious email and proceeded to clean up the system. IT blocked and purged the fake messages to protect the community system.
According to Albin-Hill, colleges other than Dominican University have experienced phishing attacks, which increased since the start of COVID-19 six months ago.
The security breaches, according to Albin-Hill, took two approaches: a fake job offer and a feigned HR message asking for information.
In terms of security precautions, Albin-Hill cautioned Dominican University community members to make sure the email is a Dominican address or check to see if the address is @my.dom.edu for self-professed student sender, or @dom.edu if the sender claims to be a professor or staff. Receivers can also hover over the link inside the email to check the site.
According to American Association of Retired Persons (AARP), since September 20, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has recorded 204,000 consumer complaints of COVID-19 and stimulus payments. The victims have reported a loss of $143.9 million with 68% consumers reporting fraud and identity theft. The FTC also lists scam alerts on the website.
Albin-Hill said students should also double check with email senders and forward suspicious senders to supportcenter@dom.edu.
Photo credit to Dominican University Flickr
