Phishing attempt at MMC

Neelima KS, staff writer • December 30, 2023

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On November 3, 2023, the official mail box of Marymount Manhattan College received a phishing email stating that the recipients of the Office 365 are requested to provide the email and password to terminate their Office 365 account due to a dual college/universities account. Following this incident, on November 21, 2023, another phishing email was sent to the MMC mailbox under the subject of ‘Part-time job offer’ to a number of students.

Both the phishing email contained a URL link in the body and was sent from the account of students at Marymount Manhattan College and they were not received by all the students.

The Assistant Vice President for Information Technology, Kurt Jn Marie, said, “The IT team immediately locked the affected student’s email account to prevent further access to the compromised account. The website referenced in the phishing email was blocked on the College’s firewall to prevent access. The website was also blocked in the Office 365 environment, and it was reported to public systems with which the College is affiliated. A process was initiated to remove the phishing email from mailboxes in the College’s email environment. The MMC user community was notified of the phishing attempt. The IT team followed up with every user who reported that they submitted information to the website referenced in the phishing email. Those users were instructed to take steps to eliminate risk of compromise.”

Coincidentally, the second phishing attempt happened on the same day ‘The Monitor’ had interviewed the IT department of MMC. Phishing attempts and cyber attacks aren’t new to the internet or students of MMC, but it is fundamental for the students of MMC to remain vigilant for future phishing attacks and report them with immediate effort.

About the Contributor

Neelima KS, Copy Editor

Neelima KS is a sophomore at Marymount Manhattan College, double majoring in Digital Journalism and Politics & Human Rights with a minor in Law & Ethics. She is enthusiastic about covering breaking news, feature stories and profiles. KS is also a passionate advocate for gender-based violence and climate change.