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From: Office of Information Security

Dear OSU Community,

There is a new phishing campaign circulating across the university using the subject lines “VITAL ALERT FROM OSU!”, “VITAL OSU NOTICE!”, “IMPORTANT OSU ALERT”, and “Email About Account Termination.” These are all phishing attempts and are not legitimate.

We understand the concern this causes, especially since the Department of Public Safety uses similar terminology for critical communications.

To protect yourself and the university, please remember:

  • Never share your password via email
  • Be wary of requests for your cell phone number
  • Legitimate OSU communications will never ask for your email, phone number, or password via email
  • Report suspicious emails using the "report a message" function in Outlook

To help you identify authentic messages, please note that valid OSU ALERT emails come from [email protected] and service desk notifications come from [email protected]. Always verify the sender's email address when receiving such communications.

The Security Operations Center (SOC) has provided an example of the phishing emails to aid in recognizing these fraudulent attempts:

Thank you for your continual diligence and efforts to help us maintain the security and resiliency of OSU’s digital environment.

Send Date: 
Wednesday, July 3, 2024