Who knew? It’s phishing season.
There is a Microsoft Office 365 phishing email being reported with increasing popularity.The subject line generally says it’s a security update and it comes from Microsoft, but when you click on it you are first taken to an ad for Google, which lends an air of authenticity, and immediately sends you to a sign in sheet for your Microsoft user name and password, which is where they get you.
Don’t fall for it. You don’t want to be the one in the office who says, “Oh, I didn’t know.”
“Because there are so many of these phishing scams, and they hit my institution all the time, they hit government agencies all the time, but you have to understand they just need one person in the institution to click the link and they’re inside,” says University of Houston Computer Sciences professor Dr. Chris Bronk. That’s why it’s a phishing expedition.
In this instance you could lose your data, your documents, your company’s spread sheets.
Microsoft has better ways of getting in touch with you about security upgrades, says Bronk. “They may send you an email but they will say very clearly ‘Do not pass us any personal information.’ There are ways that Microsoft handles this.”
photo: getty images