Tips To Protect Yourself From Email Scams

Tips To Protect Yourself From Email Scams
Posted on 09/15/2022 at 12:00

Protect your account from Phishing email attacks

Phishing and spam are unwanted emails that reach our inboxes daily. Although SDUSD does filter and block most of it, as public employees, we are easy targets.

What’s a Phishing Email?
Phishing emails can be incredibly disruptive as attackers pretend to be from a familiar organization or fellow employees. They will often target employees to get sensitive data, including passwords. Once they have an employee password, they will then use it to propagate their attacks further.

What should you do if you find an email suspicious?
To report phishing/spam email, click the GoSecure icon at the top right of the email: 
Are you using a mobile device or don’t see a GoSecure IDR icon? Simply forward the message to [email protected]
Click here for more info on GoSecure

Always ask yourself, should this personal data be requested via email? If it does not feel right, it might be best to contact the sender directly in person or via phone. IT will never ask for your password, social, or any other sensitive data on an email. Attackers will try to use urgency to try to get a response.

Consider the following tips when evaluating the authenticity of any email you receive: 

  • Is the email coming from a known email address?
    • Attackers may use similar names to sandi.net: samdi.net, zandi.net, mailsandi.net, sandi.com, etc
  • Are there any misspellings in the subject or body of the email?
    • Attackers may do this on purpose to prevent email from being blocked
  • All links and attachments can be a risk. Only open them if you trust the source.

An optional training module entitled “Email and Messaging Safety “ is available in our safe schools portal to learn more on how to keep your account safe:

Library -> Information Technology -> Email and Messaging Safety
https://sandiegounified-ca.safeschools.com