Phishing Scam Email

During this past school year, our district, along with other school districts in Utah, teacher emails have been hacked by a process called phishing.  What is phishing? Phishing is a fraudulent attempt to steal personal information usually in the form of an email. (Phishtank.com) This post is to help teachers understand what a phishing scam email looks like, what they should do if a phishing email is received, and suggest a few tips to protect teachers from Phishing email scams.

What does a Phishing scam email look like? 

(microsoft.com/security/online-privacy/phishing-symptoms.aspx)

What should u do if you run across a Phishing scam email?

Canyons School District and any other school districts will NEVER ask you for your password, Social Security number, or other confidential personal information by email.  If you have received a phishing email, forward it to spam@uce.gov and to the business impersonated in the email.  You may also want to report the email to reportphishing@antiphishing.org.  If you have been tricked by a phishing email and reported personal information, file a report with the Federal Trade Commission at www.ftc.gov/complaint.  Victims of phishing could become victims of identity theft and it would be a good idea to visit FTC's Identity Theft website.

If you are a teacher in Canyons School District and have received an email that you believe to be a phishing email, forward your message on to footprints@canyonsdistrict.org. 

What can you do to protect yourself from a Phishing scam? 

Do not respond to the Phishing email giving personal information.  If you are in doubt about the email, call the company directly and DO NOT use the phone number listed in the email.  Remember to never give sensitive account information to anyone, including friends and family, via email.  

Do not click on links or download files, unless you are expecting the email.  The links may be hyper-linked to malware software or copycat sites.  If you think it's a legitimate email, go to the company's website or call them directly.