Crowder Colleagues, 

While Phishing is a constant threat to organizations and individuals, we wanted to make you aware of a recent phishing attempt that has been seen at Crowder.   

The body of the email contains a picture of text and a QR code, avoiding many of the email filters detections.  Furthermore, the QR code is generated for a Constant Contact url, a legitimate service used by many organizations to distribute emails. Lastly, the email came from a known education group (not Crowder) with a .edu email address, giving it further credibility.  

Fortunately, Crowder users flagged the email for review and Information Services has blocked the future emails to Crowder from this sender. Despite this success, we expect criminals to continue to use QR codes and legitimate services, like Constant Contact, to phish organizations. Please be cautious of all emails, looking for oddities, and especially QR codes and shortened urls that hide where they actually direct.  

A screenshot of the malicious email is below: 

If you do receive a questionable email, please utilize the Phish Alert Button to report it to Information Services so we can review it and work to block any malicious senders from our Crowder inboxes. Directions for how to use the Phish Alert Button can be found on the Crowder Information Services Sharepoint site here: https://crowdermo.sharepoint.com/sites/InformationServices38/Shared%20Documents/Forms/AllItems.aspx?id=%2Fsites%2FInformationServices38%2FShared%20Documents%2FPhish%20Alert%20Button%20%2D%20Email%20Directions%20%281%29%2Epdf&parent=%2Fsites%2FInformationServices38%2FShared%20Documents  

As always, please contact HelpDesk at www.crowder.edu/ticket, help@crowder.edu, 417.455.5712, or come visit us in McDonald Hall room 217 if you have any questions, 

Information Services