Higher Education Workers Rarely Fall for Phishing Scams

Higher education institutions are common targets of phishing scams because the databases of colleges and universities contain the personal data of tens of thousands of students, as well as their parents’ payment information. However, a new study reveals that higher education workers are not easy marks for online attacks.

The study looked at tens of millions simulated phishing attacks conducted over the course of a year through and reviewed more than 15 industries to see how susceptible each one is. The results may surprise you.

Read More: dfndr lab Discovery: McDonald’s Phishing Scam

The Stack Up of Other Industries
It was discovered that education workers were less likely to fall for a phishing scam than industries such as technology, entertainment, hospitality, government consumer goods, retail, and telecommunications. There are also some industries that are less susceptible to these cyberattacks than higher education, including transportation, energy and finance.

What Makes Higher Education Workers Different?
A number of universities have started implementing phishing awareness campaigns on their websites in order to help workers avoid compromising the privacy of students, colleagues or teaching staff. For example, the University of Pittsburgh created special inboxes where students and staff can report suspicious messages to the institution’s IT team.

What Organizations Can Do to Avoid Phishing Scams
There are some telltale signs of phishing attacks that everyone should know about, such as emails that appear suspicious. A phishing scam can entail a few things, but a big one is when an email impersonates an institution’s domain name from an account that looks similar to the real deal, but isn’t (such as “@harvard.edu” vs. “@harvardu.edu”). If the email is prompting you to click on a link, it could be a scam. Don’t click it!

What Can You Do Personally
If you’re attending college or work at one, one vulnerable point that is missed are smartphones. A smartphone is sometimes glued to your side and is necessary for school work or your profession.

To skirt the vulnerability that your phone can pose, consider using antivirus software there too, not just for  your computer. dfndr security’s advanced anti-hacking feature blocks phishing threats when you’re surfing, chatting, or studying. Best of all, it does the work for you by alerting you and blocking malicious links before you click on them.

While it’s interesting to peek at other industries and their cybersecurity measures, security actually begins with you first.