Please note special hours during winter break:
IT Service Center
Friday, December 22: 7:30 am to 5:00 pm
Saturday, December 23 through Tuesday, December 26: Closed for university holiday
Wednesday, December 27 through Thursday, December 28: Normal business hours
Friday, December 29: 7:30 am to 5:00 pm
Saturday, December 30 through Monday, January 1: Closed for university holiday
Tuesday, January 2: Normal business hours resume
Monday, January 15: Closed for university holiday
BuffTechs @ Technology Learning Center
Monday, December 25 through Tuesday, December 26: Closed for university holiday
Monday, January 1: Closed for university holiday
Tuesday, January 2: Normal business hours resume
Monday, January 15: Closed for university holiday
BuffTechs @ Norlin Commons
Thursday, December 21 through Monday, January 15: Closed
Tuesday, January 16: Normal business hours resume
Email account owners are constantly under attack by a barrage of attempts to steal personal information, often referred to as phishing. These attacks often come during holidays when campus IT support is unavailable. Even when you can’t contact the IT Service Center there are still clues and resources to help you figure out if an email is legitimate or a phishing attempt.
The most important thing to remember is that the university will never send email asking for your private data (e.g., passwords, SSNs, credit card numbers, etc.). You should be suspicious of messages that direct you to click on a link or provide this information. In fact, a good rule of thumb is if you think it might be a phishing attempt, it probably is.
The Office of Information Technology compiles reported phishing attempts on its Phishing Emails page. You can contribute to this catalog by reporting messages that you believe might be phishing attempts by following the steps on the Report Suspicious Messages page. Although the university uses technology to block malicious emails and phishing websites, this technology is no substitute for being a conscientious Internet user.
Many phishing attempts try to lure you in by saying you must respond to keep your email account active due to some event such as reaching your quota limit or a database upgrade. If your account resides on the campus Microsoft Exchange service (this applies to most faculty and staff), you can check your quota by following these steps.
More information about phishing and how to stay out of harm’s way is on the OIT Security Awareness site.
