First, don't panic. You are not alone!  Many people have fallen victim to phishers and have been tricked into giving away their passwords or personally identifiable information.  Once you realize that you’ve been compromised, there are some immediate steps you should take to protect yourself, your information and your identity.



Steps to Securing Your Information after a Phishing Attack



Step 1: Change your passwords

You should immediately change your Syracuse University (NetID) password.  Instructions for doing so can be found on the Answers “Password Change” page.  

You should not be using the same password you use for your NetID anywhere else, but if you do, you should change those passwords to be unique passwords.



Step 2: Check the email rules on your Syracuse University email

Attackers may attempt to add email rules to your account in an attempt to hide their activity from you.  They will set up rules to forward and/or delete email from key individuals or University offices such as ‘ITS’, ‘Bursar” or ‘Payroll’. 

Please take note of what those rules are and provide them to the Information Security Department. 



Step 3: Verify MySlice information has not been altered

Attackers may attempt to change information related to your account including personal and financial information. 

Users should verify the following information has not been altered:



Step 4: Notify the ITS Information Security department

The ITS Information Security Department depends on the Syracuse University community to help detect and protect against phishing attacks.  Taking a brief moment to send us an email may help protect many others from the attack.  Simply forwarding the message to ITSecurity@listserv.syr.edu is helpful, but providing additional information as shown below will help us better protect other individuals and your access. 



Step 5: Reduce threats to your identity



Step 6: Minimize future threats



Getting Help

If you need more information or assistance with verifying any email messages, please do not hesitate to contact your local IT support team (if you’re faculty or staff), or the ITS Service Center (if you’re a student) at 315.443.2677 or help@syr.edu.

To receive timely notification from ITS of current information security threats follow SecurecUse Twitter and SecurecUse Facebook.