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Computer virus threats and spam emails – advice from IT Services

02 Sep 2013

Help to stay safe from the latest virus and phishing attacks by following some simple steps.

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Latest computer virus threats – please be vigilant

The University is seeing an increase in the number of machines infected with viruses and other malware. 

These attacks are instigated not only through email and their attachments, but also via rogue webpages which request information.  These are particularly common around internet banking, with illegitimate sites using your details to spread infections and in some cases, hack accounts and systems.

Please be vigilant of:

  • Any websites that you are visiting, especially via links from elsewhere. Be sure that you trust the site you will be taken to. You can check a link by hovering over it – the resulting URL should be displayed for you either directly on screen as a ‘hover tip’, or in the bottom left corner of your web browser.
  • Any emails from people or organisations that do not appear to be completely genuine, or contain attachments that you do not trust or know the origin of.

If you see or receive links to any suspicious sites/attachments, please do not visit or open them. You should check that your anti-virus is up to date in the first instance and report any concerns to the IT Service Desk.

Spam email messages

The University is also currently seeing an increase in the number of spam emails being received by colleagues – particularly those pertaining to be from delivery companies such as DHL, FedEx and UPS. Such emails are generally related to a phishing scam and should simply be deleted.