In an average month, UF Health IT monitors more than 18 million incoming emails for our Gainesville and Jacksonville hospital-based Outlook users, and more than 14 million (about 78%) are usually blocked as suspicious, potential spam. UFIT shares similar, dramatic stats. Despite our sophisticated email filtering processes, some “phishing” emails inevitably get through.

Please learn about phishing, and don’t interact with anything suspicious that finds its way to your inbox.

Criminals use phishing emails to try and trick recipients into sharing personal information and login credentials or clicking on dangerous links. Cybercriminals work to access an individual’s account and then the organization’s computing systems with malicious software, or ‘malware.’ To disrupt operations, criminals can shut down computing programs, potentially access data and use ‘ransomware’ to demand millions of dollars to restore encrypted systems.

TAKE ACTION! Know the red flags and be attentive. Please help protect your personal and professional information and resources.

Recognize “phishing” and avoid malicious emails

Be suspicious when …

• The email includes the UF Health alert warning.
• You did not expect the email, even if you know the sender.
• You do not know and trust the source.
• The sender’s account appears suspicious. (When you hover over the sender’s name, it shows the full email address is not from a source you recognize or trust.)
• The email asks for personal information or log-in credentials.
• The email is generic and looks like it’s also sent to other people you don’t know.
• It is poorly written with bad grammar and/or spelling.
• It seems urgent, telling you to immediately respond and/or provide information.
• It promises a gift or reward for your response.
• It includes a link you don’t recognize. When you hover over the link without clicking it, it shows an unfamiliar URL/web address.

DO NOT open or interact with suspicious emails!

• If you know the sender of an email that looks suspicious or asks you to provide personal information, call the known sender to confirm the email is legitimate.
• If you don’t know the sender or suspect the email is a scam, please report it:

Gainesville: IT_Security@shands.ufl.edu

Thanks for doing your part to keep your information and our UF Health resources secure.