What is Phishing?
 
Phishing is the act of sending an email to a user appearing to come from a legitimate enterprise (e.g, your university, your financial institution, Internet service provider) in an attempt to scam the user into giving out their personal information. The email directs you, as a user, to supply your account information, including your password. You may be asked to reply by email, or to click a link in the message and provide your personal, private information via the web. Either way, this is not a legitimate request. Legitimate enterprises would never ask you for this information under any circumstances via email.
 
Why should I not respond to a phishing scam?
 
When you provide your username and password to phishers, your account is compromised. Phishers can use your email account to send millions of spam messages from campus email servers. They also have access to all of your personal information contained within OneTech and Banner.
 
What happens should my account become compromised?
 
When the Campus Support Center identifies a compromised account, the account is locked immediately, preventing all use of the account until you can prove your identity and have your account unlocked with a new password.
 
How can I prevent my account from being compromised?
 
Do not respond to phishing scams in any way. Just ignore and delete the message immediately. Arkansas Tech University would never ask for your username and password.
 
How can I identify if a message is a phishing scam?
  • The email or message directs you, as a user, to supply your account information, including your password. It may ask you to reply by email, or to click a link in the message and provide your personal, private information via the web.
  • The message will almost always contain some kind of threat for not supplying the information, such as having your account deleted or disabled.






Phishing Email Example 3.



Important: Not all phishing scams look like the one above, but if you get an email asking for your password, ignore and delete it. When in doubt, call the Campus Support Center at 479-968-0646 before responding.