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ITS reminds e-mail users to be alert for phishing scams

Penn State Information Technology Services (ITS) is reminding the Penn State community to be aware of e-mail "phishing" scams, which attempt to trick users into surrendering personal information such as account passwords. There will be frequent variations which will appear to be from e-mail or IT administration, and from well-known banks. Effective e-mail filtering usually will send these e-mails to a "junk" folder, but some do sneak past filters and into a user's inbox.

Penn State never will ask its access account users, and banks never will ask their customers, for their password. Some phishing e-mails may contain a link to a credible-looking (but fake) website. Others request a reply by e-mail. Simply delete these scam messages -- responding to them can lead to the compromise of your access account, your computer or your data.

Those who think they may already have replied to one of these fraudulent messages should contact ITS Security Operations and Services at 814-863-9533.

For assistance with e-mail filtering, departmental users should contact their IT support staff. Others may contact the ITS Helpdesks, at http://helpdesk.psu.edu/ or helpdesk@psu.edu.

Last Updated August 16, 2010