It's Cyber Security Month at BU and we're sharing our top tips about how you can keep yourself, your personal information and your devices safe and secure.
Last week we focused on passwords and password protection, and this week we’re focusing on staying safe online.
Malicious weblinks
During term time we often see phishing emails posing as security checks from banks and Student Finance England and other student loan companies. Clicking on unknown attachments or links could see you sharing personal information with scammers, and result in slow system performance, viruses and malware that compromise your personal computers and the BU network.
Always inspect a link before clicking and get in the habit of hovering - use a desktop computer to hover your mouse curser over the link before clicking it. This will show you the address the link is trying to take you to. Check for anything unexpected in the address e.g. extra numbers or letters and if the link is genuinely what it said in the text. If you received the link on mobile phone, then wait until you can check it using a desktop to confirm its legitimacy.
You can always use a website like virustotal.com to check if the link is malicious. Find out more about malicious links and take a look at our guidance on clicking wisely.
The best thing to do is contact the organisation directly to check if the email was sent from them. Always take a moment before making a decision to respond, and consider if you feel you’re being made to feel curious, scared or sympathetic. Check for poor spelling and grammar as this is often a sign that fraudsters are at work, and ask friends or family for their thoughts on whether the information is legitimate.
If you do receive an email to your BU account you believe to be a scam, you can attach the email (don’t forward it!) to ‘Unwanted Mail’ in Outlook, or call IT Service Desk on 01202 965515, option 1.
Look out for further tips about keeping yourself safe online throughout this month - if you've got any queries, please get in touch with the IT Service Desk.
