![\"Screenshot](\"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/phish-files\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/290\/2026\/01\/Montclair-State-University-IT-LAST-ANNOUNCEMENT-Portal-Update-Alert-JANUARY-page.png\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Logical Premise: <\/strong>IT frequently perform maintenance and security updates, making the request seem routine.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n Specific Instructions: <\/strong>Mentioning “conflicting issues” with other universities adds a layer of technical detail that can sound professional.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n Convenience:<\/strong> The email suggests you can perform the update from a mobile device or home computer, which aligns with modern remote-access policies.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n Artificial Urgency:<\/strong> The “48-hour” deadline is a high-pressure tactic designed to make you act before you think.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n Threat of Account Loss:<\/strong> IT would not threaten to delete your account over a routine database update.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n Generic Greeting: <\/strong>Using “Dear User” instead of your name is a sign of a bulk phishing campaign.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n The “P.W.” Disclaimer:<\/strong> IT will never<\/strong> ask for your password via an external form or link. Asking you to provide your “password for verification” is a 100% guarantee of a scam.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n Poor Grammar\/Formatting:<\/strong> “Everyone is expected to update his\/her details” and the awkward “NOTE::” section are unprofessional and typical of phishing templates.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n If you entered your Montclair email and password into the provided link, follow\u00a0these steps immediately:<\/p>\n Reset your password via the NetID Account Management Center<\/a>. If you use this password for other accounts (Gmail, Banking, etc.), change those as well.<\/p>\n If you start receiving Duo requests you did not initiate, report them as Fraud and reset your password.<\/p>\n Keep a close eye on your financial accounts and any personal information tied to your school profile for the next few weeks.<\/p>\n Why this looks valid: Logical Premise: IT frequently perform maintenance and security updates, making the request seem routine. Specific Instructions: Mentioning “conflicting issues” with other universities adds a layer of technical detail that can sound professional. Convenience: The email suggests you can perform the update from a mobile device or home computer, which aligns with […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":349,"featured_media":1303,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1302","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-spear-phishing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/phish-files\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1302","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/phish-files\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/phish-files\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/phish-files\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/349"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/phish-files\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1302"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/phish-files\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1302\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1351,"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/phish-files\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1302\/revisions\/1351"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/phish-files\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1303"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/phish-files\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1302"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/phish-files\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1302"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/phish-files\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1302"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Why this is phishing?<\/h2>\n
\n
Immediate Steps to Take<\/h2>\n
\n
If You Already Clicked or Entered Credentials<\/h2>\n
1. Change Your Password<\/h3>\n
2. Monitor Your Duo MFA Alerts<\/h3>\n
3. Monitor for Fraud<\/h3>\n
Additional Notes:<\/h2>\n
\n