A recent breach of a third-party vendor’s CRM system has exposed business contact information held by several vendors in Pitt’s portfolio, increasing the risk of phishing and social engineering attempts. No Pitt systems or student data are known to be involved. If your unit works with affected vendors, please review the guidance below.
1. Know how to spot and report phishing scams.
- Phishing scams often contain typos, create a sense of urgency, request sensitive data, or come from unrecognized senders. They may also use generic greetings and ask you to reply using personal email accounts.
- Use the KnowBe4 Phish Alert Button in Outlook as the fastest, most reliable way to report suspicious messages directly to Pitt Digital.
2. Use unique passwords and enable multifactor authentication
- Your University account is protected by Duo, but enable multifactor authentication on all other accounts where you have the option.
- Create a unique password for Pitt Passport and different passwords for all other accounts to enhance security.
3. Only approve authentication requests that you initiated.
- Uninitiated Duo requests indicate an attempted security breach. Change your password immediately if you receive one.
- Duo Multifactor Authentication provides additional security to your Pitt account, requiring both your password and a secondary verification factor.
4. Take or review security training.
Annual online cybersecurity training is an essential part of protecting your data and the University against escalating cyberthreats.
- Search for “security training” on myPitt (my.pitt.edu) to complete or review the required training.
5. Keep your browsers and software updated.
Regularly update your browsers, apps, and operating system to maintain security.
- Enable auto-updates for web browsers following these instructions and activate Windows Update on Windows PCs.
- Mac users should enable automatic updates and background security improvements.
Thank you for helping to protect your data and the University. For questions about cyberthreats, contact the Technology Help Desk anytime at +1-412-624-HELP (4357). Together, we can keep Pitt safe from cyberattacks.
