We have recently been informed of a targeted attacks during which Hopkins faculty or members of the faculty’s administrative staff were phoned and requested to provide credit card numbers for hotels related to meetings or seminars. The cyber attackers will typically have details regarding the seminar to appear more legitimate. Additionally, if questioned about the need for a credit card or other personal information, they will imply a sense of extreme urgency or may become aggressive and threaten the loss of the hotel room or event admission. Please take the time to scrutinize any unsolicited emails or phone calls that request personal information about you or other people on your team.
You can protect yourself from phishing, targeted attacks and other scams by remembering these Dos and Don'ts:
- DON'T send passwords or any sensitive information over email
- DON'T click on "verify your account" or "login" links in any email
- DON'T reply to, click on links in or open attachments in spam or suspicious email
- DON'T call a phone number in an unsolicited email or give sensitive data to a caller
- DO be cautious about opening attachments, even from trusted senders
- DO double check with a trusted source about any requests for personal information (i.e. direct phone call to known number)
- DO send impersonated or suspect emails to IT@JH. The address is the word ”spam” followed by @jhu.edu
