What Are Phishing & Spam Emails?

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Spam emails

Spam emails, also known as junk emails, are unsolicited commercial emails, often from an individual or company trying to sell you something. While these emails can be a nuisance, the senders rarely try to acquire sensitive information from you, such as your account password; however, they may try to acquire personal information, such as your date of birth or home address.

Received a spam email?

If a spam email is delivered to your inbox, you can report it to Microsoft by forwarding the message to junk@microsoft.com. You can also right-click the message and click Block Sender to prevent the sender from emailing you again.


Phishing emails

Phishing emails attempt to steal your confidential information by directing you to a fake website that asks you to provide personal information, such as a password, credit card or bank account number.

Occasionally, you may receive a phishing email in your University email account. These messages often direct you to a fake sign-in page and ask you to provide your MultiPass password.

Received a phishing email?

If you have received a message that you believe is phishing, report the message via the button above. Be sure to include the message headers. View the knowledge base article to the right for steps on how to obtain message headers.

For an updated list of phishing emails, click here or visit our Twitter account (@DuqCTS).


Responded to a phishing or spam email?

Replying to phishing emails always results in your password being stolen. If you believe you responded to a phishing email, follow the steps below to resecure your Duquesne accounts.

Step 1: Secure Your MultiPass Account

Visit duq.edu/multipass to reset your MultiPass password and secret question answers IMMEDIATELY. Also, reset your password for any personal accounts that may have used a password similar to your MultiPass account password.

Step 2: Secure Your Email Account

Verify that no suspicious inbox rules or forwards have been placed on your Duquesne University email account. Visit duq.edu/mail to perform these steps.

Step 3: Secure Your Computer

If your computer has been infected with spyware or malware, perform an antivirus scan. If you do not have an antivirus program installed on your computer, CTS recommends Sophos Home Commercial Edition.

Details

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Article ID: 226
Created
Thu 6/1/23 2:55 PM
Modified
Wed 8/23/23 10:33 AM

Related Services / Offerings

Related Services / Offerings (2)

Computing and Technology Services (CTS) offers cybersecurity training for all faculty, staff and students.
While there are many tools in place to filter and block a large volume of phishing or spam emails, some of these messages may be delivered to your inbox.