Welcome back to campus to all returning students and a great big welcome to our incoming students, the class of 2025!

We refer to the first two months of the Fall semester as phishing season. Cybercriminals are aware of the Higher Education academic schedule, and take full advantage of the early semester rush and the influx of new students, faculty, and staff in order to bombard community members with a wide variety of malicious emails.

Here at Marist, we have recently seen a large increase in malicious emails, including the following:

• Extortion emails
• Fake invoices
• Impersonation
• Phishing
• Malicious document sharing

Over the coming weeks, we are guaranteed to see more malicious emails. Our cybersecurity team depends on the Marist community to report these issues swiftly, by sending an email to phishing@marist.edu. 

Now would be a good time to review real world examples of the different types of emails we receive, and review some of our best practices:

1. Phishing (security warning): https://www.marist.edu/infotech/infosec/-/asset_publisher/wO4aVC8CX9qE/content/phishing-last-warning-synchronize-with-out-security-protocols/3217892
2. Impersonation emails:  https://www.marist.edu/infotech/infosec/-/asset_publisher/wO4aVC8CX9qE/content/fraud-purchase-impersonation-/3217892
3. Purchasing scam:  https://www.marist.edu/infotech/infosec/-/asset_publisher/wO4aVC8CX9qE/content/fraud-order-/3217892
4. Unsolicited file sharing:   https://www.marist.edu/infotech/infosec/-/asset_publisher/wO4aVC8CX9qE/content/phishing-you-just-reveived-onedrive-document-/3217892
5. Employment fraud: https://www.marist.edu/infotech/infosec/-/asset_publisher/wO4aVC8CX9qE/content/fraud-book-keeping-position/3217892

Stay safe and keep sending those suspicious emails to phishing@marist.edu! Our team reviews each individual email and always responds. As a reminder, you can always contact the Marist Help Desk with any questions or issues: 845-575-4357 (HELP) or helpdesk@marist.edu. And if you have any comments, concerns, or need guidance on any cybersecurity or information security issue, feel free to email the Director of Cybersecurity directly at emily.harris@marist.edu