Phishing attacks have been on the rise over the past month. The primary target of these attacks are college students with StarIDs.

According to Mankato Free Press, the attacker sends an email warning a student to log into their StarID account or it would be deactivated. The link in the email directs the student to a scam website, that records the student’s username and password.

With that information, the person who uses this attack will intercept any direct deposit or financial aid belonging to that student. Once an institution realizes the student’s deposits are missing, they send an alert for the student to immediately go to their campus HUB to reset their accounts.

Winona State Universtiy’s Tech Support sends out instructional emails on ways to prevent this attack, but it is still a big issue for college students.

“More students fall victim to these attacks than we like to admit,” says Kenneth Janz, dean of the library. “We send out information from Tech Support a couple times a year on phishing

attempts and we would like people to take the

threat seriously.”

A student’s StarID can be almost as important as credit card numbers or social security numbers. It is used for financial aid, student work programs and direct deposits from jobs on campus.

If an email requests a StarID, or anything with private information, the reciver should consider

the email very carefully or bring it up with tech services.

A phishing attack doesn’t base itself around student accounts.

According to SearchSecurity “phishing is a form of fraud in which the attacker tries to learn information by masquerading as a reputable entity or person in email, IM or other comunicaion channels.”

A scam via email seems unlikely, but it is common. If someone falls victim to these emails, Tech Support can and will fix it. If an email fitting the description of a Phishing attack appears in the inbox, do not click any of the links and delete the message.