Spear Phishing

Spear phishing, as predicted, has come on strong already in 2021. So far a few departments have seen a new version, but asking for the same old thing. The message will seemingly come from a supervisor at some level. It will say they are very busy and need you to email them back because they don’t have access to a phone at this time. (Hey…wait a minute…if they aren’t in the office, won’t they have their cell phone on them?!?!?) They will ask you to go pick up gift cards for them and email the numbers and codes from the back as soon as possible. Again, they don’t want you to call!

Please remember that your supervisor, coworker, or anyone else at UT will NOT email you and ask you to do this. The University has policies regarding the purchasing and reimbursement of anything. This practice is not allowed. To find more information, please see Spear Phishing.

Zoom Bombing

Recently there have been a few Zoom bombing incidents involving class sessions on the UT Knoxville network. Unfortunately, one of those sessions was an Institute class. For those unable to attend the Herbert College of Agriculture meeting on February 10, you can find the information shared at that meeting by going to Zoom Bombings to see the Zoom Best Practices, along with a few other resources about keeping your Zoom meetings and classes secure.

Current Threat Alert

Please keep an eye on Keeping You Safe for information on current threats.

Thank you all for all that you do! And never hesitate to contact me if you have any kind of IT Security questions or concerns!

Sandy