ITS Blog

Directory of Links for a Zoom Bomb & Scam-Free Semester


Directory of Links for a Zoom Bomb & Scam-Free Semester


WHAT’S THIS ABOUT ZOOM BOMBING? How do I set up my meetings?


As Covid-19 has made almost all classes and meetings a virtual experience, we’ve seen more instances of Zoom bombing. “Zoom bombing” is a pandemic thing; it's also a bullying thing. Some attacks have included unauthorized individuals (often called trolls) gaining access to meetings where they bully or yell racial slurs, while others involve hackers disrupting (bombing) your meeting and making inappropriate comments and/or showing inappropriate content on the screen. 


If you have been Zoom bombed, or maybe not, you’ll definitely want to take a few easy steps now to avoid this by keeping your Zoom up-to-date and not publicly sharing your meeting links. Participants should NOT sign in as a guest, by making sure they always sign in to the Zoom App via the binghamton.zoom.us account and entering their SSO credentials before starting or joining any Zoom meeting in their default (preferred) browser. (PC - Chrome, Mac - Safari), and then click on the meeting link in the same browser (or manually enter the meeting number). 


Hosting a secure Zoom meeting for class or remote work?

Keep your Zoom meeting secure and private. When creating a campus Zoom meeting, set up the meeting with authentication set to “Binghamton University Only” that way, a meeting attendee will need to be signed into their Binghamton University Zoom account to join the meeting securely. This protects your meeting from disruptions from outside Binghamton University.




If you have "guest" users showing up in your course meetings, make sure "Only authenticated users can join" is selected in the meeting settings. If the option is already selected and you still see guest participants, contact the ITS Help Desk at helpdesk@binghamton.edu or 607-777-6420.


For more information about how to avoid Zoom bombing, how to securely set up your meetings and any other issues with Zoom,  go to the links below. 


HOW CAN I PROTECT MYSELF FROM PHISHING SCAMS?

There are several ways you can protect yourself:


  • Follow us on Twitter and Instagram @binghamtonits. We regularly post about phishing and the latest scams affecting our community, so it’s easy to stay up-to-date.

  • NEVER send money to ANYONE — not for a job prospect, not for job training, not for anything unless it’s legitimate and from someone you know (It’s best to call them on the phone to double check.).

  • Check out the directory of links below, which have more helpful safeguards, tips and resources to help you avoid getting hooked by a phishing attack.


LET’S TALK ABOUT PHISHING

Out of sight out of mind when it comes to phishing scams? WRONG. Phishing is serious. According to Verizon’s 2020 Data Breach Investigations Report:


  • 22% of data breaches involve phishing

  • 96% of attacks arrive via email

  • And 86% of attacks are financially motivated.


HOW DOES THIS AFFECT ME?

Binghamton University is seeing a recent/continuing resurgence of “impersonation” email scams targeting many professors and administrative assistants. These messages appear to come from managers or deans, and ask the targeted user to purchase gift cards for them (i.e. iTunes, Amazon, GooglePlay, etc). Once the attacker has received images of the purchased cards, they stop contact. Many of the messages we have seen use email addresses such as user.binghamton.edu@gmail.com, which look real at first glance but are actually fake. So, it’s so important to double check all incoming email addresses before you do anything.


In addition, we have also seen a resurgence of student-targeted job scams. As students settle into their new Fall Semester routines, cybercriminals are eager to take advantage with fake job offers, many of which entail requests to pay a fee, or a financial transaction is involved. It’s important to keep a lookout for these scams, as they’ve been reaching our community in a variety of ways, mainly through email, texts and phone calls. One recent scam is an email with the subject, ARE YOU INTERESTED? POSITION NEEDED and the body of the email has a brief request to call or text “insert name and number here” for more information. 


These phish emails all have similar characteristics that should heighten your defenses — URGENCY, MONEY REQUESTS, UNSOLICITED GREAT SOUNDING JOB OPPORTUNITIES – what it all comes down to is the fact that if it sounds too good to be true, it IS FAKE. TIP - Write yourself a reminder to double and triple check all external emails and post it by your computer.

CATEGORIZED DIRECTORY OF LINKS

ZOOM

For extra security measures we recommend setting up your Zoom meetings to "Only Authenticated users can join", and select "Binghamton University Only" as the authentication type. You can also utilize the steps listed here. The following links go into more detail for Zoom meeting tips for your review:


PHISHING GENERAL INFORMATION


EMAIL and JOB HOAXES/SCAMS

COVID RELATED SCAMS


ITS BLOG ARCHIVE

You can also check out the ITS Blog archive, which includes many informative, up-to-date blog posts on these topics and more that aren’t included above: https://www.binghamton.edu/its/blog/archive-2020.html#article


Think you’ve been phished? Contact the Help Desk at 607-777-6420 or helpdesk@binghamton.edu. Received a “phishy” email? Report it to security@binghamton.edu.