Phishing emails are getting more sophisticated and compelling. The email subject might be worded in a very compelling way. The text itself may include threats of lost access, requests to change your password, or even IRS fines. The sender’s email address can be a clever fake or can even be “spoofed” to appear like someone you know. Don’t believe it!
Many safe and legitimate email messages come from external email systems. The [External] tag does not mean the message is a scam, but it does provide additional information about the message source. The [External] tag is there to help. The [External] tag means you need to stop and think about this email:
- Is it from a sender you know?
- Were you expecting the email? Verify with your friend or co-worker over the phone if you are unsure or if the email seems a bit off.
- If there is a link in the message, Don’t click it!
- If a message seems suspicious, please forward the email to helpdesk@ccri.edu for verification.
- Does the message make sense? A legitimate message would not ask you to provide your credentials to maintain your account access.
- No [External] tag, but still a bit suspicious. Internal users can have their accounts compromised and be used to send out additional phishing emails. If you believe that a CCRI account is being used to send phishing email please forward the email to helpdesk@ccri.edu
This feature will help protect your account from possibly being compromised as well as protect the College. If your account gets compromised, the spammers may gain access to CCRI Systems and confidential information.
Example:
Q&A about [External] Emails
| Can I Personally opt-out of [External] tagging? |
| No, [External] Tagging is added to all CCRI accounts to help signify email form unknown sources. |
| Are [External] tagged messages dangerous? |
| Not all [External] messages are dangerous. Many legitimate messages come from external sources. However, a common phishing technique is spoofing our Community College of Rhode Island email addresses. The [External] tag is one more signal to determine authenticity. |
| Does [External] tagging do any additional scanning, filtering or sorting? |
| No additional scanning, filtering or sorting is performed. If the message origin is a non-CCRI system then [External] is added to the beginning of the email message subject. |