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Service, Integrity and Pride
Welcome to Hunter College’s Department of Public Safety home page. We hope you find the information here helpful. Please take the time to visit our Crime Prevention section. It is intended to help all of us keep Hunter a safe environment in which to learn and work.
Mission Statement
The City University of New York Public Safety Service is dedicated to providing excellence in protection and service to the University community. As law enforcement officers, we shall continuously endeavor to ensure a safe and secure environment conducive to a positive social and educational process.
Alert: Surge in phishing and other email scams
We have observed a recent increase in targeted email-based scams and phishing emails, affecting our Students, Faculty, and Staff. Similar experiences have been reported by other CUNY campuses and CUNY Central Office. Please review the following information to reinforce your awareness of such scams and what you should and should not do in response.
Security Threat Identification / Symptoms
Unsolicited email, sometimes appears to have been sent by a familiar sender, including the college president, deans, department heads, etc., or even a fellow student. Some messages have included a signature block with the name and email address of a real Hunter staff member in a financial or human resources role.
The message may
- contain a basic link that leads to a site that attempts to inject malware
- contain an attachment that is claimed to be an invoice or similar
- request the purchase of gift cards on the requestor’s behalf
- offer employment as a “secret shopper” or personal assistant
- request a change of direct deposit bank information, targeting human resources and finance staff
- plead for urgent or immediate action
Recommended User Action
- DO NOT reply to email with any personal information or passwords. If you have reason to believe that a request is real, call the individual or company directly by independently looking up contact information.
- DO NOT click a link or open an attachment in an unsolicited email message. If you have reason to believe a request is real, type the web address for the company or institution directly into your web browser.
- BE SUSPICIOUS of any message requesting urgent action, particularly when the message appears to be sent by a VIP.
- DO NOT use the same password for your work account, bank, Facebook, etc. In the event you do fall victim to a phishing attempt, perpetrators attempt to use your compromised password to access many online services.
- DO verify that the message sender address is a valid Hunter (@hunter.cuny.edu or @myhunter.cuny.edu) address. Be wary of non-Hunter/non-CUNY addresses crafted to mislead, such as “dean.hunter.cuny.edu@gmail.com”. Even if the sender address does appear to be valid, DO be cautious if the email was unsolicited, and the content is too good to be true.
- DO be particularly cautious when reading email on a mobile device. It may be easier to miss telltale signs of phishing attempts when reading email on a smaller screen.
- DO remember that official communications should not solicit personal information by email.
- DO change ALL of your passwords if you suspect any account you have access to may be compromised.
- DO read the CUNY Phishing Advisory posted at security.cuny.edu under CUNY Issued Security Advisories.
- DO complete the 30 minute information security awareness training located at security.cuny.edu.
