[IS&T Security-FYI] SFYI Newsletter: The Fake Security Update Circulating MIT

[Monique Yeaton]

This morning many computer users at MIT noticed an email in their  
inboxes with the following subject line:

MADATORY SECURITY UPDATE - JANUARY 2010 [spelling error intact]

The message goes on to request you to login in to your email account  
to ensure your account information is up to date, due to an upgrade to  
an "advanced server" to prevent spam from reaching your inbox. A link  
is provided, with a URL that has mit.edu included in it.

THIS MESSAGE IS NOT FROM MIT!

Many of our users are aware that such messages are fraudulent and will  
ignore them. But it is important to spread the word to those who may  
fall for such messages. If the link is clicked, your username and  
password to your email could be compromised. Within minutes, the  
hackers can log in to your email and use it to send out the spam they  
claim in their message they are trying to prevent.

This is just another phishing attempt. To educate our users on  
phishing, you can point them to the IS&T knowledge base:
http://kb.mit.edu/

Enter "phishing" in the search bar or go to this link: http://kb.mit.edu/confluence/x/SBhB 
  which explains what is a phishing email.

Thank you!

Monique

=========================
Monique Yeaton
IT Security Awareness Consultant
MIT Information Services & Technology (IS&T)
(617) 253-2715
http://ist.mit.edu/security

---------------------------------------
Important: DO NOT GIVE OUT YOUR PASSWORDS OR PRIVATE INFORMATION!
Ignore emails asking you to provide yours. IS&T will *NEVER* ask you  
for this information.

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