Good afternoon, everyone.

With the start of classes, I want to remind everyone of a known threat that tends to target students, as well as one regarding retirement or pension consulting that just won’t go away. I also need to remind everyone of some upcoming Microsoft End of Support dates. This will particularly affect those of you who are still using older versions of Microsoft Office.

Current Threats

• Employment Offer (phishing emails)
  • As school is beginning, so are the phishing and junk emails that target our students.
  • The subject usually mentions a part-time job offer for students and staff.
  • The email often appears to be from someone within the UT system, whether it be a student or someone else at any of UT’s campuses and institutes.
  • The email says that you can work remotely and often mentions the pay being at least $450/week for a few hours of work.
  • These emails sound too good to be true because they are.
  • The sender is NOT affiliated with UT and is either spoofing the UT address or the UT account has been compromised.
  • If you receive an email like this, please use the red “Report” button on the Outlook ribbon.
  • Reporting these emails can get them stopped much sooner, so please take a minute to help out.
  • And it is so important that you share this information with your students, remembering that students who are not UTIA employees may never know about these scams if you don’t tell them!

• Pension and Retirement Planning (phishing emails)
  • Supposed pension and retirement consulting emails are continuing, with someone reporting these emails every week.
  • The most common current sender appears to be name[at]mypensioneducation.com.
  • The subject is most often UT Annual Pension Review.
  • The message mentions TCRS and ORP, which are valid pension plans.
  • The message offers a link to schedule a one-on-one consultation, but please do not click it.
  • This company is not affiliated in any way with UT or the State of Tennessee, as we have only one retirement planning advisor team working with RetireReadyTN.
  • While it has a registered domain, mypensioneducation has been reported by universities across the country as being a scam.
  • Do not click or respond as any “meeting” you may have is almost certainly being held in order to collect your personally identifiable information.
  • If you receive one of these emails, please use the red Report button to report as phishing.
  • Remember that pension and retirement conversations are extremely personal and you should never share your information with someone you did not seek out yourself.
  • If you want to speak with a pension or retirement consultant outside of UT, that is your choice, but you should do your research.
  • If someone reaches out to you with an unsolicited email, text, or call about pension or retirement, please don’t trust them even if they use the right information, such as TCRS or ORP, because they can easily find what we have online.

Upcoming Microsoft End of Support Dates

• If you are running any of these apps, please make sure you upgrade them before the support comes to an end.
  • Microsoft Publisher – 10/01/2026 (access ends for Microsoft 365 subscribers)
  • Office LTSC 2021 – 10/13/2026 (Office LTSC 2019 reached the end of support last year!)
  • Windows Server 2012 / 2012 R2 – 10/13/2026 (this is the final year for paid Extended Security Updates)
  • Windows Server 2016 – 1/12/2027 (this is the final date for paid Extended Support)
• If you are using Office LTSC 2021 (or 2019!), it MUST be updated.
  • UT highly recommends that you use Microsoft 365 Apps for Enterprise over Office LTSC 2024 and 2026 so that you can take advantage of the special features that allow for more collaboration, better productivity, and consistency across the UT System.
  • As a reminder you can check for the version of Outlook you are using by clicking on File (top left), then Office Account (bottom left), then you should hopefully see “Microsoft 365 Apps for enterprise” on the right side.
  • If you do not see this, then look for “About Outlook” on the right side to see what the version is.
  • If you see that you need to be updated to Microsoft 365 Apps for Enterprise, please call the OIT HelpDesk at (865) 974-9900 and they will assign a ticket to the appropriate IT support group.
  • However, if you are with CVM, please contact CVM Computer Support, as they have their own ticketing system.
  • And please remember it is very important that we always have the most up to date versions of any app.
• End of Support means:
  • No security patches;
  • No updates;
  • No technical help; and
  • No connections to Cloud services like Microsoft 365.

I want to thank you all so much for everything you do to protect the Institute, its data, students, employees, clients, and yourself! Anytime you have questions, concerns, or comments please don’t hesitate to let me know.

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!