Q: What is a phishing email?

Answer

Almost everyone has gotten an email message disguised with the subject or message, "Your account has been suspended." or "We need to verify your password." These subject lines coupled with a spoofed (e.g., simulated) return address of Administrator@mit.edu, Admin@ebay.com, or AccountsDept@(your bank).com can confuse the untrained "fish." Further, the messages themselves often contain logos, and trademarks that add to the deception.

When trying to determine if email is authentic or not, remember one very important detail: no legitimate company will ever send you email requesting your username, password, or any other personally identifying information.

Things to look for to verify if the email is a phishing email:

• Spelling errors and bad grammar
• Odd formatting (e.g., incorrect use of capital letters or punctuation)
• No real person's name included in the message either in the greeting or the signature
• A return or reply-to email address that is not from mit.edu. You can view "full headers" to see what is listed as the actual return address.
• If a password is being requested, you know the email is not legitimate. No legitimate business will ever request your password. Look at what else is being requested as well (e.g., requesting your sex and country or territory is not a legitimate customer service)
• No mention of a phone number to call or person to contact
• Deleting an account due to lack of response: a legitimate business doesn't follow that kind of practice

Examples of "Phishy" Emails

Emails coming from such spoofed addresses as "network@mit.edu," "support@mit.edu," or "webmail@mit.edu" are asking MIT community members to confirm their email accounts by supplying their username and password.

THESE MESSAGES ARE NOT COMING FROM MIT! They appear to be coming from an MIT email address but are in fact coming from an address that has either been hacked or simulated. MIT will never ask you to confirm or supply your passwords.

DO NOT REPLY TO THESE MESSAGES! Just delete them.

To see examples of some of the email messages that are attempting to steal your passwords or other personal information, click here.

To Learn More

There are several ways to hone your skills for recognizing phishing emails. Here are some quizzes that other companies and schools have provided for user education:

• Anti-Phishing Phil Demo from Carnegie Mellon University: http://cups.cs.cmu.edu/antiphishing_phil/new/index.html
• SonicWALL Phishing and Spam IQ Quiz: http://www.sonicwall.com/phishing/

If You've Fallen for a Phishing Scam

Change your email password immediately. If you think someone has already gained access to your email account and you are concerned about the privacy of your email contents, contact security@mit.edu, who may be able to do a forensic exam on your account. Hackers have been known to hijack an email account within 30 minutes of receiving a username and password, and using that account to send out thousands of spam messages.