Hello, everyone.

Today I have one non-threat to discuss. I don’t have a specific current threat to tell you about, but I need to remind you to be extra vigilant, especially during these times when our global adversaries may be planning meticulous cyberattacks. I also want to remind everyone why I send these newsletters.

Current Non-Threat

• Partners for Health Benefit
  • The sender is Partners for Health & Carrum Health <hello[@]health.carrumhealth.com>.
  • One subject is Sign up for your new Partners for Health benefit, dated on or around 06/10/2025.
  • The second subject is You haven’t signed up for your new Partners for Health benefit yet – don’t miss out, dated on or around 06/24/2025.
  • The emails are going out to faculty and staff members age 18 or older and enrolled in a Partners for Health medical plan.
  • The content tells you that Carrum Health is now part of your Partners for Health benefits.
  • The content tells you that if you need surgery or cancer care, Carrum Health can help.
  • I verified this information by going to the known Partners for Health website and searching for Carrum Health.
  • You can learn more by going to https://info.carrumhealth.com/partnersforhealth/, including watching an on-demand webinar.
  • The deadline to sign up is approaching, so if this is of interest to you, please check your email, including your personal email account if you have your insurance information sent there.

Ask Your CISO (repeat from 2024)

• Why am I receiving these emails from you about IT Security?
  • This is a great question and I want to make sure everyone knows the purpose of these e-newsletters.
  • The Institute is comprised of AgResearch, College of Veterinary Medicine, Herbert College of Agriculture, and UT Extension.
  • In addition to the Institute’s Knoxville campus, there are 10 AgResearch and Education Centers, three Regional Extension Offices, four 4-H Centers, and 95 County Offices across the state.
  • I send the newsletters to all Institute faculty and staff, including student employees, on a weekly(ish) basis.
  • There are also some retirees who get the newsletter based on their status with the Institute.
  • I also have been asked to include some non-employee student groups.
  • Not everything in every newsletter will apply to every person receiving it.
  • By including everyone with each newsletter, it helps make some people aware of things they would never otherwise know about.
  • For instance, at certain times of the year students are highly targeted by scammers sending phishing emails, so sharing information about threats is intended to help keep students alert to the “job opportunity” scams, among others.
  • I always encourage anyone receiving the newsletters to share them with students, friends, family, and clients.
  • If you ever want to look up a past newsletter or search a certain topic of interest, you can find all the previous newsletters and other important information at the UTIAsecurity website.
  • And if you have specific questions and concerns, don’t ever hesitate to ask me!
    • Additionally, while I would never recommend forwarding a questionable email to anyone else, I do like it when you forward it to me.
    • I promise I never click on anything, but having the email allows me to fully investigate the content, the links, etc.
    • If you send me an email and I don’t respond quickly enough or if you have an emergency situation, I highly recommend that you call my cell phone.
    • I don’t answer unknown calls from certain areas widely known for scam calls, so please leave a message and I will call you back as soon as possible.

Thank you so much for everything you do to protect the Institute and its data, students, employees, clients, and yourself!

Sandy

Important Note: Thank you so much for sharing these e-newsletters with family, friends, clients, students, and anyone else who may benefit from the information. I would like to stress that you should keep your students in mind, as non-employee students will not get this information without someone sharing. If anyone has an email group for students who are not employees of your department, please let me know what that address is, and I can include it. I do this as a blind copy so student names and addresses will not show up!