Avoid Phishing Email Attacks

Higher education across the nation continues to be targeted by fraudulent email attacks. Fresno State  is taking action to reduce the impact of these phishing attacks by automatically filtering emails from external addresses with suspicious links. 

Despite these measures, some phishing emails continue to slip through and compromise faculty and staff accounts. To prevent this, we suggest never using your Fresno State credentials in a link sent via email. When in doubt, call the Technology Service Desk.

How to Spot a Phishing Email

While phishing emails can be hard to spot, most will share one or more of the following characteristics taken from actual emails:

• Addressed generically or not personalized -
  "Dear Fresno State User"
  
  
• Ask to verify your account information -
  "Please click here to verify your username and password"
  
  
• Scare or threaten your account with urgency -
  "Failure to do this will immediately render your email address deactivated"
  
  
• Poor grammar or spelling -
  "Please inform us that this Message has gone astray before deleting it"
  
  
• Contains suspicious or hidden links -
  "Click here now: http://tinyurl.com/alphanumeric"
  "www.fresnostate54.com/accountverfiy"