Bowdoin email accounts encountered a phishing attempt on Thursday morning, according to an email from Information Technology (IT) to all students and employees. The attack was similar to a series of consecutive phishing attempts on the Bowdoin network earlier this month.
The phishing email was sent to student employees disguised as a message about payroll. It included a link to a page that closely resembled Bowdoin webmail and asked students to enter their username and password. Any students who entered their credentials likely had their accounts compromised.
IT instructed students who entered their information on the webpage to change their passwords.
Bowdoin email accounts have strong spam filters that typically catch phishing, but the email managed to evade the College’s protective measures.
“We do have spam filters in place that basically will catch a lot of these bad things but … [the email] came through from a .edu address,” said Eric Berube, associate IT security officer. “The people who are doing this know that, so they compromise accounts at other institutions and then use that to get to us.”
Berube stressed the importance of students maintaining an awareness of phishing attacks.
“With phishing, a big part of it is just making sure people are aware when they get it, not to open it and not to enter their credentials.