Back-to-School Cybersecurity

Be alert for cybersecurity scams as the school year begins

students Fall 2018

Over 200,000 UC students will be starting classes over the next couple of months. The new school year is an exciting time for students, faculty, and staff.

It’s also an exciting time for hackers, identity thieves, and other unscrupulous types who take advantage of people during this busy time of year.

Watch out for typical beginning-of-the-year scams:

Emails supposedly containing “important information about your UC account,” or a “problem with your registration”
Scams specifically designed to cheat students out of money, such as scholarship scams, fake “tuition payment processors”, textbook rental or book-buying scams, housing scams, tutoring scams, and work-from-home scams
“Tech support” scams where you get a call supposedly from “ResNet” or “the Service Desk” or even “Microsoft” or “Apple” telling you there’s a problem with your computer
IRS impersonators demanding that students or their parents wire money immediately to pay a fake "federal student tax"
Messages with links to fake login pages
Messages asking for your login information, no matter how legitimate they may look. No one other than you needs to know your passwords
Fake friend requests on social media
Fake Box or Google Doc notices

How to stay safe:

The best way to avoid scams is to approach all unexpected messages, offers, and phone calls with a healthy skepticism. Helpful habits include:

Always think twice before clicking on links or opening attachments, even if they look like they're from someone you know. If you’re not sure, contact the sender by a method you know is legitimate to confirm they sent it.
Verify requests for private information. Remember, con artists know how to fake their identity.
Protect your passwords. Make them long and strong, never reveal them to anyone, and use different passwords for different accounts. Also use multi-factor authentication (MFA) where possible.

For more about these and other effective cybersecurity habits, check out UC’s “Make It a Habit” webpage at https://security.ucop.edu/resources/security-awareness/habits.html.

Additional Information About Specific Scams:

More on tech support scams: https://www.consumer.ftc.gov/articles/0346-tech-support-scams
Info from the IRS about fake "federal student tax" (from 2016 but still current): https://www.irs.gov/uac/newsroom/irs-warns-of-latest-scam-variation-involving-bogus-federal-student-tax
Scholarship scams: http://www.fraud.org/back_to_school_scams (end of the article)
“Tuition payment processor” scams (also from 2016 but still current): https://www.forbes.com/sites/johnwasik/2016/09/11/scam-alert-avoid-college-payment-processors/
Fake login page scam specifically targeting university login pages: https://www.secureworks.com/blog/back-to-school-cobalt-dickens-targets-universities

See the full Back-to-School Cybersecurity Awareness Toolkit