{"48099":{"#nid":"48099","#data":{"type":"news","title":"OIT Issues Alert on New Phishing Scam","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003ERecently, Georgia Tech has seen a new type of \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Phishing\u0022\u003Ephishing\u003C\/a\u003E attack on campus.\u0026nbsp;This is a scam intended to trick users into providing their GT login credentials.\u0026nbsp;The email message asks users to log into a malicious site hosted at \u0022pacnet-servers.co.cc\u0022 and update their account information. \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.oit.gatech.edu\/content\/information-security\u0022\u003EGeorgia Tech Information Security\u003C\/a\u003E is notifying all members of the GT community to ignore this email and do NOT visit the site.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EIt is important to remember that the official Georgia Tech mail page is located at \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/mail.gatech.edu\u0022\u003Ehttp:\/\/mail.gatech.edu\u003C\/a\u003E (you may also use \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/my.gatech.edu\u0022\u003Emy.gatech.edu\u003C\/a\u003E or \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/webmail.mail.gatech.edu\u0022\u003Ewebmail.mail.gatech.edu\u003C\/a\u003E, which are also perfectly valid). \u0026nbsp;Also, please remember that Georgia Tech will NEVER ask for your username\/password over email or send you to a site off campus to verify your account details.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EIf you have clicked on the bad link above and visited the site, call the OIT Technology Support Center at 404-894-7173 immediately to receive assistance with resetting your account information.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EIn addition, we have published our\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.gatech.edu\/newsroom\/release.html?nid=48098\u0022\u003Eannual Holiday Computer Security Tips\u003C\/a\u003E. Please take a minute to review these recommendations for protecting yourself and your computer.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EIf you have any questions or concerns, contact the Technology Support Center at 404-894-7173 \u0026nbsp;or \u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:support@oit.gatech.edu\u0022\u003Esupport@oit.gatech.edu\u003C\/a\u003E.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Ch3\u003EFor you reference, the malicious email will look similar to the following:\u003C\/h3\u003E\u003Cblockquote\u003E\u003Cp\u003E**SAMPLE MESSAGE**\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThis message is from the webmail IT service, you are to provide to us the below information to re-validate your account due to spam.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EWhat was the problem?\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EOn November 27th, our servers were subjected to a malicious attack, which affected certain components of the operating system on some of our servers. Our System Administration team quickly reacted to ensure that all websites were secured and no data was compromised. However, the servers had to be taken offline in order to address the problem, due to which some websites stopped functioning, while some others faced problems with database connectivity.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EWhat is being done about it?\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EAll operating system issues caused by the attack have been fixed, and we have put measures in place to prevent any repeat. As of this update, most of the servers have been brought back online. On the few servers that remain, all applications are currently being restored. Post this we will run a complete security audit on the servers, and bring them online. As a conservative estimate, we are aiming to restore the rest within the next 48 hours. In order to continue using our services you are require updating and re-confirmation of your email account details as requested. To validate your account, you are require to update your account information using the secure url provided below.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EFailure to do this will immediately render your account deactivated from our database and service will not be interrupted as important messages may as well be lost due to your declining to re-confirmed to us your account details. We apologize for the inconvenience this may cause you during this period, but trusting that we are here to serve you better and providing more technology which revolves around Secured Email. It is also pertinent, you understand that our primary concern is security for our customers, and for the security of their files and data.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ECONFIRMATION CODE: \/93-1A388-480\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EGatech Support Team\u003C\/p\u003E\u003C\/blockquote\u003E","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":[{"value":"Computer network attack intended to trick users into providing their GT login credentials"}],"field_summary":[{"value":"Recently, Georgia Tech has seen a new type of phishing attack on campus. The email message asks users to log into a malicious site hosted at pacnet-servers.co.cc site and update their account information. This is a scam intended to trick users into providing their GT login credentials.  We are asking all members of the GT community to ignore this email and do NOT visit the site.","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":"","uid":"27299","created_gmt":"2009-12-10 15:03:53","changed_gmt":"2016-10-08 03:04:04","author":"Michael Hagearty","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2009-12-10T00:00:00-05:00","iso_date":"2009-12-10T00:00:00-05:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"related_links":[{"url":"http:\/\/www.gatech.edu\/newsroom\/release.html?nid=48098","title":"OIT\u0027s Holiday Computer Security Tips"}],"groups":[{"id":"1182","name":"General"}],"categories":[{"id":"129","name":"Institute and Campus"}],"keywords":[{"id":"439","name":"computer"},{"id":"8119","name":"email"},{"id":"2678","name":"information security"},{"id":"4112","name":"oit"},{"id":"8111","name":"phishing"},{"id":"170927","name":"scam"}],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:richard.biever@oit.gatech.edu\u0022\u003ERichard Biever\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EOIT-Information Security\u003Cbr \/\u003E404-894-6318\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":[],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}