IT security notice: Phishing alert


The IT Security team has received reports about two malicious email messages that have been sent to many members of the McMaster community in the past few days.

Watch out for emails with the following elements:

MESSAGE 1:

  • Subject: McMaster University, Re-Evaluated and Up to Date Responsible Use of Technology Resources For Dr. David Farrar
  • Sender: susan.wardrope <Susan.Wardrope[at]forthvalley[.]ac[.]uk>
  • Attachment: mcmaster university.pdf

MESSAGE 2:

  • Subject: MacDrive Document
  • Link: Link appears to direct the user to the MacDrive service, but upon hovering you will see it directs to a website in an external domain
  • Other details: Mimics a MacDrive notification very accurately and appears to come from an internal source

The objective of both messages is to steal your MacID credentials, but they each go about it in a little different way.  MESSAGE 1 includes an attachment that when opened may result in malware being installed on the recipient’s computer. MESSAGE 2 includes a link to website that is hosting malware.

The IT Security team has enabled measures that will protect members of the McMaster community from these malicious email messages, however some inboxes were affected before measures were implemented.  If you received either of these malicious emails, please delete them immediately.

If you opened the attachment in MESSAGE 1 or clicked the link in MESSAGE 2, please take the following actions:

  • Scan your computer for malware immediately.
  • Change your password.