Why students are targeted
A student email account is valuable: it can reset other accounts, receive financial-aid and refund information, send convincing phishing to classmates, and access university systems. Attackers run constant campaigns against .edu addresses. A few habits make you a much harder target.
Use a password manager
The single highest-value change: a password manager generates and stores a long, unique password for every account, so a breach of one site cannot unlock the others. The university licenses one for students; set it up and let it take over. Stop reusing passwords and stop trying to remember them.
Keep multi-factor authentication on
MFA (a code or a push approval on your phone in addition to the password) is required for your Porter account and stops the large majority of account takeovers even if your password leaks. Add it to your email, bank, and any account with money or personal data. Register a backup method so a lost phone does not lock you out.
Recognize phishing
The university will never ask for your password by email or text. Be suspicious of urgency ("your account will be closed"), a link that does not go where it says (hover to check), a slightly wrong sender address, requests for gift cards or a wire, and "job offers" that ask for your bank details or send you a check to deposit. When unsure, do not click — go to the site directly, or use the phishing-report button.
Lock and update your devices
A screen lock with a PIN or biometric on your phone and laptop, automatic updates turned on (the pushed updates patch the holes attackers use), and full-disk encryption (on by default on the issued laptop). Do not leave a device unlocked and unattended in the library.
If something goes wrong
If you clicked a link and entered your password, or you see logins or messages you did not make, act immediately: change the password (from a device you trust), sign out all sessions, and contact the Technology Help Desk. For a compromised bank or financial account, call the bank's fraud line. Fast action limits the damage.
Fictional information
UW–Porter Falls is a work of parody. Every office, person, building, phone number and statistic on this page is invented; nothing here describes a real institution or a service you can actually contact.