Email Security

Avoid scams and spam

It’s in all of our interest to keep our inboxes safe and secure.  ISS provide guidance on IT Security generally and email security in particular on its website that you should familiarise yourself with.  Additionally, the University provides online and in-person training in IT Security which you are encouraged to take.

Two of the most common email security issues that you should be mindful of are Phishing and Spam.

• Protect against Phishing: Phishing is an attempt to fraudulently acquire sensitive information, such as username, password and banking details, by masquerading as a trustworthy organisation or individual in an email message. To avoid it you should treat as suspicious any email with requests for personal information or which link to a website where you are asked for login details. If you think that you have received a phishing email you can report it by forwarding the email to phishing@nuigalway.ie and the ISS Service Desk will take the appropriate steps to block the email.
• Do not reply to spam mail: Spam email is unsolicited bulk commercial or phishing messages sent via the email system. Approximately 93% of email sent to the @nuigalway.ie domain is Spam and blocked by our automated protection systems. That said, some spam mail still filters through to our domain, and being vigilant to this is of utmost importance. By replying to spam mail users are confirming that their email address is current, thereby generating more spam mail. Marking Spam email as Junk is the best way of reducing the likelihood that you or others in the University will receive similar emails again.