Beware Phishing Attempts - Watch for These Red Flags

Message from Helen Robbins-Meyer, Chief Administrative Officer:

Attempts to break through our online security have become relentless. This morning, over 2,000 of our colleagues were targeted by yet another phishing scam. Those are emails with links or attachments that could potentially do grave harm to us. In today’s attack, our users were asked to supply a password to open an attachment.  

In this case, safety protocols blocked the actions from going any further. Kudos to all our IT staff who work tirelessly at creating, and constantly updating, these safeguards. They stop a lot of these attempts before they even get to your inbox. 

But even the best goalie can’t block every shot. They need all of us – I mean anyone who uses County email or a County computer system – to be on guard against these attacks.  

I hope it’s clear to everyone the risk we’re running in an online breach. We hold vast amounts of private information, and the public trusts us to protect it. Those trying to pry open a digital door are getting sneakier all the time. We need to up our awareness and vigilance to keep pace. 

You’ve probably heard these tips before, but today’s incident indicates we need constant reminders. 

Don’t open, or click on links or attachments in, a suspicious email. Scammers are able to “spoof” the sender so it appears they come from within the County. But if you suddenly get an email from someone who wouldn’t typically email you, there’s a red flag. If it includes an attachment, say, to a voice mail file – big red flag.  

If anyone asks for your County password, in any context via any email, regardless of how official it looks – don’t do it! You will never be asked to share a password or input a password via an email link. Huge red flag.  

Anything that looks strange in any way, don’t open or click on anything.  

In Outlook, there’s a button now that says Phish Alert. Depending on what you’re using for your email, it might be in top menu on the right or within the message options. With any questionable mail, click on that.  

It’s frustrating that we need to keep this constantly in mind as we rush through the countless emails and online work that we do each day. But it’s essential to our mission of protecting the public that we stay alert to this growing threat.  

Thanks for your cooperation and vigilance.