As we head into the final days of tax season, ITS and Human Resources would like to remind faculty, staff and students about a potential increase in phishing attempts.
Sophisticated phishing attacks often appeal to emotional and urgent concerns, so tax season is the ideal time for these types of attacks to occur. Phishing attacks will try to obtain your credentials or other identifying information for tax and payroll fraud by luring individuals to click a link, reply with password information or open an attachment.
ITS will never ask for you to provide your password over the phone, in an email or through an unfamiliar web form. It’s important to know that phishing emails may contain very real-looking NAU logos or signatures because they are easy to steal or fake.
Below are some reminders about what phishing emails may include:
- Subject line in all caps, requires your response immediately or implies that action is required to prevent negative consequences
- Misspelled or odd names for NAU departments or personnel
- Bad grammar or messy formatting
- Suspicious links or attachments
Before clicking on any link in an email, hover your mouse over it and pause to view the full website. If anything looks off, don’t click! Report the email to https://phishing.nau.edu. You can also call the Solution Center at (928) 523-1511 for immediate assistance.
ITS is constantly working to mitigate attacks and provide tools to help ensure the safety of our data, but we must all still be vigilant at this time of year.