whether you're learning in a traditional classroom or from a remote location, it is important to take a few simple steps to protect yourself. these information security steps will help you get started in protecting your accounts and devices.
protect your arcadia account
- keep your passwords strong and secure. at arcadia, we use and enforce a strong password criteria, please see our password page for our criteria and tips for creating a strong password using a passphrase.
- if you haven’t already, make sure you register for portalguard. this is your password reset and single sign-on (sso) tool and will soon function as your multifactor authentication (mfa) tool. for more information about portalguard, please visit our portalguard website and faqs page.
know how to spot a phishing email
while some phishing emails are obvious malicious attempts to gain access to your accounts and personal information, others are crafted in a way that makes them appear to be legitimate. check for some of these common flags:
- the email comes from a sender that you do not recognize or is pretending to be someone that you know. malicious actors will either spoof a familiar email address by making their email appear to come from an email address that you know, or, they will create an email address that looks very similar to one that you may recognize.
- the email was sent to you along with a handful of other email addresses that you do not recognize. this is usually a sign of a compromised email address that is now being used to attack the contact list of the email owner.
- did you receive an email with an attachment that you were not expecting to receive? if so, do not open it! email attachments can contain malware or even links to malicious websites that will ask you for personal information, such as account credentials to “view the attached file”.
- is there a link in an email that you aren’t expecting? take a moment to inspect the link by checking for typos and hovering over the link. hovering over the link will let you see where the link actually takes you. a common trick is to make a hyperlink that appears to be taking you to a familiar resource, but instead, takes you to a mock website that will request your username and password.
- is the email threatening or does it create a sense of urgency? a common trick of phishing emails is to use fear tactics. by creating a sense of urgency or instilling fear, the malicious actor hopes that you will act quickly and without second guessing the legitimacy of the request or demand. if you receive an unexpected, yet urgent request, take a moment to evaluate the email and determine its legitimacy. if you feel threatened or harassed in any way by the content of an email, please do not hesitate to contact public safety.
- remember: the arcadia university help desk will never ask you for your password
- are you unsure if an email is a phishing email or legitimate? report it to the it department!