A phishing campaign has compromised nearly 200 student email accounts at the University of Hull, it said today. “Convincing” scam emails were sent to student email addresses, claiming their accounts were being closed and they needed to log in, The University of Hull said.
This led to 196 accounts being compromised due to students submitting their email and passwords to the scammers, which were then used to “send fraudulent emails requesting money transfers”. The University of Hull said it did not believe the phishing attack had led to the access of any data.
The affected accounts have been blocked, which means some students and staff will temporarily not have access to them. A spokesperson for the University of Hull told Hull Daily Mail: “We were made aware of a phishing email campaign targeting a small number of student accounts yesterday afternoon.
“A convincing email falsely claimed that University accounts were being closed and asked recipients to log in to confirm their credentials. Compromised accounts were then used to send fraudulent emails requesting money transfers.
“The University, alongside our cybersecurity partner, took immediate action and 196 compromised accounts were blocked, and the spread of malicious emails stopped. Our initial investigations have not identified that any data was accessed or exported.
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“As a result of these account blocks, some staff and students may temporarily be unable to access their University accounts, including email and Teams. Those affected are being supported by our IT and student support teams and we are working as quickly as possible to restore secure access and will continue to provide updates via alternative communication channels where necessary.
“We take the security of our community very seriously and are working to investigate what happened to prevent future occurrences. We appreciate the patience and cooperation of all staff and students during this time.”