UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa -- Penn State’s Office of Information Security on Tuesday, Nov. 13, sent a fake message that appeared to be from the Department of Transportation to a large group of students as part of the office’s self-phishing campaign. The email was so realistic that OIS officials now are asking students who received it to ignore it, and are emphasizing that “it is not a legitimate email and no action needs to be taken on the part of any student.”
Launched in February, the self-phishing campaign is a means to educate members of the University community on how to recognize scam emails and protect themselves and their identities. The effort is meant to show students, faculty and staff the dangers of clicking on emails from unknown sources or questionable emails, which can compromise computer security and more.
Officials in the Office of Information Security apologized for any inconvenience this phishing email may have caused. Anyone who has questions about the legitimacy of future emails, should not hesitate to contact the Penn State Office of Information Security at phishing@psu.edu or visit the web at: https://phishing.psu.edu.