Phishing and impersonation attempts targeted WFU accounts

A chain reaction of phishing attempts targeted official Wake Forest accounts this week. The phishing emails lured recipients with an invitation to a “collaboration document” which claimed to be from a Wake Forest colleague. Upon closer inspection, the URL was not as expected, nor was the sender’s email address. 

Hackers used publicly available information to target users with messages from what appeared to be Wake Forest executives in their departments to a phony “collaboration site” where the hackers could capture WFU email passwords and Google Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) codes. Once the accounts were compromised, they were used to send out a second wave of phony job offer emails to additional WFU accounts. 

As a reminder, NEVER share your password or Google MFA code, legitimate sites or email requests will never request this information. Be wary of any email asking a user to redirect messages to a personal email. 

Security updates are posted on the Information Systems website. For questions or concerns or to report potential phishing or cyber scams, email the Information Security team at infosec@wfu.edu.