A phishing attempt is being circulated through campus insisting that recipients click on a link inside an e-mail message because of a server software upgrade. The fraudulent message says it is from “System” or “System@stonybrook.edu” and has a subject heading of “Important Notification!”

Please be advised that no one in the Division of Information Technology at Stony Brook University will ever request you to click on a link in an e-mail message in order to perform system upgrades, nor will you ever be asked to provide your username, password, etc. via e-mail. Please be alert to phishing and scamming e-mails and do not respond to them.

Any time you see a message of this sort, even if it appears to come from the campus e-mail system, you should do the following:

1. Forward the message to abuse@stonybrook.edu
2. Move it to the junk mail folder for further forensic analysis. Do not follow any instructions contained in the message.

For tips on how to avoid phishing scams and other ways to protect your personal information, please see our Protecting Your Computer page.

If you have questions, please contact West Campus Client Support at 2-9800 or the East Campus Help Desk at 4-HELP.