Phishing scams looking to exploit your trust continue to grow in sophistication. This year alone, AU customers have received several messages purporting to be from AU offices or well-known companies with which we might regularly interact. They can look very real, have a sense of urgency, and may ask us to login using our credentials. Often the messages include web links that will download malware onto our computers to gain access to our personal information, simply by clicking on the links.

This new portal login page banner is intended to remind us that it is important to verify the address in our browser matches the site that we wish to visit. Phishing is a common tactic used by criminals, which tries to trick us into giving up our username and password to them. This is often done through emails where the link in the email appears to point to a legitimate website, but in fact will direct us to a malicious one. American University and other universities have been targeted in such attacks. This is also a common method for obtaining bank account or other sensitive information.