These phishing emails claimed to be from various UVic department chairs in an attempt to make the emails look legitimate and important. However, looking at the sender information raises some red flags: not only does the name not match the name of the department chair, but the email address is also not from UVic. That’s a strong sign that this is an impersonation attempt and you should not open any links or attachments in the email.
Not surprisingly, salary increases and bonuses, or important internal documents, are some email themes that phishers regularly use to lure people into clicking links and attachments. If you are sharp-eyed, you might also notice that there’s a zero instead of an O in “B0NUS”. This is a further sign that the email is not legitimate.
If you opened the attachment, run a full malware scan on your device as a precaution, and contact the Computer Helpdesk or your department’s IT support staff immediately. Be wary of documents that ask you to click on a link to login or access the real content. Also, watch out for and report any MFA pushes that come from outside of the country that you’re in, and change your password immediately if that sort of MFA push comes your way.
From: N********@*****.edu
Subject: Dr. J***** ****** shared a file with you- FACULTY & ᏚTAFF B0NUSAttachment: [Word Document icon] FACULTY & ᏚTAFF B0NUS.docx
Some people who received this message don’t often get email from n********@*****.edu. Learn why this is important
Dr. J***** ****** shared a file with you- FACULTY & ᏚTAFF B0NUS
From: N********@*****.edu
Subject: Dr. M****** ******* shared a file with you- Essential_Departmental_interviewAttachment: [Word document icon] Essential Departmental Inter…
Some people who received this message don’t often get email from n********@*****.edu. Learn why this is important
Dr. M****** ******* shared a file with you- Essential_Departmental_interview