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What is Phishing (Pronounced Fishing)? Phishing is the act of sending an e-mail to a user falsely claiming to be an established legitimate enterprise in an attempt to scam the user into surrendering private information that will be used for identity theft or other illegitimate purposes. The e-mail directs the user to visit a Web site where they are asked to update personal information, such as passwords, credit card numbers, social security numbers, and bank account numbers, that the legitimate organization already has. The Web site, however, is bogus and set up only to steal the user's information (2005, webopedia.com). While the Blackboard site is very secure, there is the potential for Phishing to occur. Phishing creates the illusion that you are in a secure web site when you really are not. Without actually entering our Blackboard system, hackers can created the illusion that you have safely logged into Blackboard and request that you submit personal or sensitive information. By sending you a link in an email, or placing a link in a website, hackers may try to lure you into clicking on a link which will bring up their scam website within the actual SDSU Blackboard interface. What Can You Do to Avoid This? Never respond to or follow the directions of any email that asks you to update any information within Blackboard. Faculty information comes into Blackboard via the SDSU Web Portal, not through user entry into Blackboard (Exception-faculty do setup their email address in Blackboard, but this is done electively. Faculty are never asked to do this via non-descript email requests). If you receive suspicious looking email pertaining to Blackboard or have any questions about the legitimacy of email regarding Blackboard, call the Blackboard Help Desk immediately, 594-3485.
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