Be aware of phishing attempt emails

There have been a few phishing attempts that have been circulating through George Fox emails. These attempts can come in various forms, and they are sent to try to gain access to either your email account or to confidential information. The most recent attempt is a notification of a shared Google Doc titled “IT WORK ORDER REQUEST DOCXX.pdf.”

So that you don’t fall victim to these attempts, please review the guidelines below.

If you feel you’ve received a suspicious email, check the following:

  • Check the sender’s address. If it is unrecognizable or something similar to, but not exactly the same as the sender’s normal email address, it could be a phishing attempt. Please note that a similar email address does not mean the original email address has been compromised; this is called a spoofing account.
  • Any link or odd instructions. If the email directs you to click on a link (even something familiar such as iTunes, etc.) or input sensitive information, it could be an attempt to get your password or other important information. Verify with the sender personally if you are suspicious.

If you feel that you have received some sort of phishing attempt:

  • If you receive an email that you suspect is a phishing attempt, you should forward it to servicedesk@georgefox.edu.
  • You should not click any links or open any attachments.
  • When Google identifies that an email may be phishing or suspicious, they might show a warning or move the email to Spam.
  • If an email wasn’t marked correctly, follow the steps below to mark or unmark it as phishing.
  1. On a computer, go to Gmail
  2. Open the message
  3. Next to “Reply <–“, click “More” (represented by three dots vertically stacked)
  4. Click “Report Phishing”
  • Request that anyone who has been emailed via the attempt also report it as phishing in their inbox.
    If you did not click on any links or reply, you do not need to do anything further.
  • If you did click on a link or send a reply with sensitive information, you’ll want to change your password as soon as you can in my.georgefox.edu (this will automatically update your email password). Then go through the Settings in your Gmail account to look for anything amiss, such as an unfamiliar forwarding address or vacation responder that you never created.

Feel free to call the Service Desk at 503-545-2569 if you would like help walking through these steps.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, June 22nd, 2022 at 2:54 pm and is filed under Newberg employee news, Newberg Graduate student news, Newberg Undergraduate student news, Portland employee news, Portland student news. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

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