Students across higher education, including U-M, are frequently targeted by scammers who want money, gift cards, or access to their accounts. These same students are often learning how to identify new-to-them scams and are at risk of falling for their increasingly sophisticated tactics.
In an effort to better protect our students, LSA Undergraduate Education and Student Affairs, LSA Technology Services, and Information & Technology Services’ Information Assurance collaborated to build a new process to place critical scam alerts for students on the LSA Course Guide and MyAdvising platforms. These platforms are visited by a combined 25,000 users per month, greatly expanding the reach of cybersecurity alerts. These alerts provide timely and actionable information about trending scams targeting students, enhancing U-M’s ability to protect and educate students.
Asmat Noori, Interim Chief Information Security Officer & Executive Director of Information Assurance, describes the importance of building cybersecurity awareness among students: “We strive to ensure that students can easily access the information they need to protect themselves by meeting them where they are. The LSA course guide is a good example of that. One student who reached out to us this fall, reported a scam email because they had seen an announcement about job offer scams on the portal. We look forward to creating more direct connections to students by tapping into established communication channels within units.”
Raising awareness of scams helps students avoid financial losses, identity theft, and more. It also helps students focus on their academics and activities instead of being distracted by stressful situations.
U-M units that would like to collaborate with ITS Information Assurance regarding creative ways to share cybersecurity scam information can email IA-Comm-PSA-Team@umich.edu.
